Benefits/Council Tax Reduction Scheme Consultation

Overview

The Council Tax Reduction (CTR) scheme provides help for Oxford residents on benefits or low incomes to pay their council tax. This help is provided as a reduction in the amount of Council Tax to pay. The reduction can be up to 100% of the Council Tax bill.

Since the end of national council tax benefit (CTB) in April 2013, councils have been responsible for drawing up their own schemes of support. Oxford is one of a small number of councils who have not reduced the overall level of financial support that was available before 2013, even though government funding for Council Tax support has reduced annually, and ended completely in 2019. Because of government cuts to funding and an increase in caseload due to the rising cost of living, our CTR scheme will cost us more than £1.9 million this year.

In Oxford, 8,933 people currently get help to pay their council tax, of which 6,534 are working age. The amount of help they get depends on their income and their household, with people on some benefits not having to pay anything. These benefits include income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income Support (IS), Guarantee Credit and income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). People in equivalent circumstances on Universal Credit (UC) will also get 100% CTR support thus protecting the most financially vulnerable.  The scheme also currently protects claimants with children and disabled people as this income is ignored when calculating the income band for CTR entitlement.

We are thinking of making some changes to our Council Tax Reduction scheme. We are carrying out this survey to improve service delivery and gauge customer satisfaction with our service.