Lone parents and renters are the most likely groups to fall into arrears since local authorities were given control of council tax relief, a think-tank has found.
Welsh councils should ensure they take “early intervention” to stop more households falling into debt as they look to increase council tax next year, a think-tank has said.
Not only has the reduced system of council tax support hit low-paid workers but it has proved remarkably ineffective as a way to raise revenue, says the IFS’ Stuart Adam and Thomas Pope.
The final local government finance settlement has handed Northamptonshire County Council a lifeline by allowing the cash-strapped authority greater council tax flexibility.
Council tax arrears in England are soaring after millions of households have been stripped of funding from schemes to help them with their bills over the last five years.
Councils’ spending power could rise to £46.4bn next year, a real-terms increase, local government secretary James Brokenshire revealed as he published the provisional settlement today.
Councils and other government bodies are “over-zealous” and “uncompromising” in the way they pursue financially vulnerable people over unpaid debt, MPs have said.
Council leaders have urged the Lords to back a bill to double council tax premiums on empty homes in England in order to tackle a “chronic housing shortage”.
Council tax is no longer fit for purpose and should be replaced with a system that is fairer both across and within generations, says Adam Corlett of the Resolution Foundation.
Council tax should be scrapped and replaced with a charge calculated using more up-to-date home values, a Resolution Foundation report out today has said.
Almost all councils in England are planning to raise council tax and increase charging in 2018-19, according to the Local Government Information Unit’s annual finance survey.
