PEOPLE in Wyre Forest are being urged to have their say on proposed changes to a relief fund that helps residents pay their council tax.

A consultation on Wyre Forest District Council’s Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) has started and runs until November 7.

The Council has to review the scheme each year and is considering making five changes to bring the scheme into line with the Government’s latest welfare reforms.

The five changes being considered are:

*Removing the Family Premium for all new working age applicants

*Reducing the period a person can be absent from Great Britain and still receive council tax reduction from 13 to 4 weeks

*Removing the work-related element in the calculation for new Employment and Support Allowance applicants

*Limiting the number of dependent children that can be taken into account to a maximum of two.

*Removing entitlement to the Severe Disability Premium where another person is paid Universal Credit (Carer’s Element) to look after them.

The changes would affect new claims for certain working age people applying from April 2017.

Existing working age claimants will not be affected by the proposed changes as long as their circumstances do not change.

Residents can access the questionnaire at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QBF8ZNH while paper copies are available at Kidderminster Hub.

Councillor Sara Fearn, Wyre Forest District Council’s Cabinet Member for Transformation and Change said: “The Council Tax Reduction Scheme helps the poorest residents in our communities by reducing the amount of council tax they have to pay. The amount of help we give is based on a claimant’s financial situation.

“We are obliged to review the scheme every year and we are considering changing how we calculate people’s discount to bring it into line with other benefit schemes.”

Results from this consultation will be published later this year on the council’s website while a final decision will be made no later than January 31 2017.

Councillor Fearn added: “It’s a complex issue and we have fully explained the various options in the questionnaire. It really is important that people read the background information before they fill in the survey.”