East Hampshire District Council launches fund to help people struggling to pay council tax

East Hampshire District Council has agreed to adopt a localised council tax support scheme which is statutorily imposed by the local government finance act 2012.

The council introduced eight measures to their scheme, including the increase the weekly earnings disregard to £70 for couples and £35 for individuals – these sums will be deducted when determining working-age benefit claims.

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Among other measures are the complete removal of current non-dependent deductions used to determine working-age claims, an increase of the savings threshold for working-age claims from £6,000 to £10,000, and providing flexibility within the scheme to assist applicants who unavoidably make late claims and enabling a backdate.

A new council tax and housing benefit overpayment household support funds have also been introduced worth £100,000 and £50,000 respectively.

The changes will provide an additional £270,000 worth of extra relief from April 2023 and help over 600 households.

Cllr Steve Hunt said: ‘People I’m concerned about helping are working people and anything that’s going to extend earnings allowances and still get some sort of relief on council tax is very welcome.

‘The level of earnings disregard is still pretty low, only £70 for a couple, I’m very grateful that it is going to be reviewed next year – because we can actually see whether the 600 people estimated to benefit from this is a right number.

‘It’s very much a move in the right direction and although it is still a small amount, it does mean though that anyone who’s receiving government help on their energy bills won’t be a reason to stop them from getting council tax relief.’

When debating the scheme councillor Nick Drew added: ‘For what seems like a very small or low impact to the district council we’re able to massively impact, in a positive way, a large number of people within the district.

‘For that reason, I think it’s a great piece of work and I’d like to thank officers for working on this a long time ahead of the many issues that we have now.’