New council tax discount scheme comes into force next month (From Kidderminster Shuttle)
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New council tax discount scheme comes into force next month
9:42am Monday 18th March 2013 in News
WYRE Forest District Council is reminding residents that a new council tax discount scheme will come into force next month.
The scheme will mean that all residents of working age will have to pay some of their council tax bill.
The new discount scheme will begin on Monday, April 1 and is replacing council tax benefit following the Government’s decision to end the national scheme and cut funding for benefits by 10 per cent.
From April 1, no-one of working age will be able to claim 100 per cent of their council tax bill and will need to find at least 8.5 per cent.
Residents living in a band A property in Kidderminster will need to pay £84.62 if eligible to receive a 91.5 per cent discount under the new scheme.
Other changes include a change to the tariff used to assess discount and second adult rebate will be withdrawn.
There will also no longer be a discount for people who have two homes and changes have been made to the discounts given for empty properties.
Single person discounts and payments to pensioners will not be affected.
For more information visit wyreforestdc.gov.uk/benefits
Comments(10)
Stephen Brown
says...
1:19pm Mon 18 Mar 13
Thankfully, the penny is finally starting to drop for many and the Govt have been rumbled.
If you don't want to live under a system that existed before WW2 that punished the poor and vulnerable and uses unemployment to drive down wages and aspirations, and if you want to save our welfare system, save the NHS, and stop the wholescale privatisation of services then start voting out the Tories in May; and let the LibDems know that they are part of this problem and not the 'brake' they think they are on the worst the Tories have to offer.
That will only be the start however, this will be a long hard 2 years. One thing the Tories are good at is clinging to power and despite their shambolic economic policies and attack on the poor, I expect they will start promising tax cuts and jam tomorrow as their grip on power erodes. Don't be fooled by smiles and promises!
gypsyman
says...
4:31pm Tue 19 Mar 13
neilhar
says...
8:57pm Wed 20 Mar 13
It is not Wrong to be in work and to ask for some help. Just like it is not wrong to be out of work and to Need some help. Nor is it wrong to be ill and desperate yet unable to work and also Need some help from a system already contributed to for 25 years.
And trust me, as a man about to lose his house as part of the latter group, you would never, never be better off out of work.
This particular £84 is likely to break my camel's back. Think on before you prejudge anyone, just in case they may be prejudging you.
neilhar
says...
9:06pm Wed 20 Mar 13
stour67
says...
8:56am Thu 21 Mar 13
FlipC - The Mad Ranter
says...
10:47am Thu 21 Mar 13
At least at the moment that is; the Con's attitude seems to be - if you're out of work you're lazy and thus shouldn't receive money from us; if you're in work you've got money and shouldn't need money from us.
Trebles all round.
Stephen Brown
says...
12:27pm Thu 21 Mar 13
Once you strip out the central plank of their policy in leaving the EU, and their immigration policies which are ill thought through and poorly costed in my view, you basically have a right wing conservative agenda so far as I have read and understood from their 2010 election manifesto. It has some bits in it about commonwelath trading and replacing EU trade but it fails to address the financial damage in any meaningful way that leaving the EU will do to business. We spend way more on other things than the EU budget - defence for example is 4 times the spend of our EU contribution.
UKIP are pro privatisation of education and the NHS, pro austerity, pro public sector cuts, pro welfare reform, pro deregulation, pro erosion of worker rights, have contradictory policies on the environment, want to spend shed loads more on the army, nuclear weapons, and build lots of new prisons while giving tax breaks to the rich under the guise of a flat rate 31% tax rate they claim will help the poor.
Sorry but I fail to see what would change under UKIP that would improve things for workers, their pay, workers rights, or even our economy that would help working people afford to pay their bills and achieve a higher standard of living?
Mr R Sleeker
says...
3:06pm Thu 21 Mar 13
stour67
says...
9:32pm Thu 21 Mar 13
FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
10:59am Mon 18 Mar 13
Because everyone of working age should have a job and an income? It's not as if in the West Midlands in 2012 there were 5 claimants for every vacancy is it?
Perhaps they should move or look further afield? Oh wait there's 3.3 claimants per vacancy across the country, transport prices have increased way above inflation and there are no houses being built (and those that are empty are highly priced due to the lack).
Perfect sense from a government who equates poor with lazy.