Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

In North Tyneside, the Council Tax Support can be claimed by people on low income to help pay their Council Tax.  It is a  means-tested discount which means the income of the claimant (and partner if they have one) and their household makeup, impacts on how much they are entitled to. Changes in income, even very small changes, and changes in household makeup will often change entitlement.

No direct payments are made to claimants; instead, we reduce their Council Tax bill by the amount of support they are entitled to. Our current scheme has only had small changes since its introduction on 1 April 2013.

This is a very complex calculation. 

• Council Tax Support reduces Council Tax bills up to a maximum 85% for working-age households, with the household paying a minimum of 15% (For pensionable age households, Council Tax bills are reduced by up to 100%, with no minimum payment). 
• Currently, over 15,000 households in the borough claim CTS, including pension-age applicants. Of these, around 8,400 are working age.
• The amount of Council Tax Support awarded depends on factors: 
  1. Household type: Pensioner receive maximum support of 100% Working-age households receive maximum support of 85% 
  2. Income: Those receiving Income Related Support, like Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance, Income-related Employment Support Allowance, Guaranteed Pension Credit, and Universal Credit (not working) get maximum support of 85%. A deduction may apply for other adults living in the property (non-dependent deductions). 
  3. Non-dependant deductions: If there are other adults in the household, like a son or daughter, deductions will be based on their circumstances. 
  4. if someone’s income is below their needs allowance then they will get the maximum support of 85% of their council tax liability paid.
  5. If someone income is above their needs allowance then they will see their maximum entitlement reduced, the amount of reduction depends on how much income above their needs allowance. The amount of income above a needs allowance is called the ‘excess income’. The maximum support is reduced by 20% of the excess income to calculate entitlement. 

Changes to the Council Tax Support scheme are being proposed because:

1. It is very complex for customers to understand, and some households may not be claiming because of this.
2. Under the current scheme, the move to Universal Credit for many of our claimants mean they often see small changes in their entitlement each month, which triggers many changes to their Council Tax Support during the year.  Some will receive many bills during the year, in some cases getting a new bill every month. This causes confusion for our customers and makes it hard for them to budget their finances.  
3. For the Council, it is a burdensome and costly scheme to administer.
4. The Council needs make sure that every penny it spends on services and supporting people is going to those most in need and every penny, is spent wisely.

No. Central government sets the rules for all pension-aged households, including who can claim and how, so the council is only proposing changes to the working age Council Tax Support scheme. 

Around 8000 working age households currently get help through Council tax Support scheme but they all currently pay something.

• Around 75% will have nothing to pay under the new scheme
• Almost 80% will better off 
• 20% will pay more than they did

We will support residents while they transition to the new scheme if they are in hardship so help will still be in place for those that are struggling to meet the increased Council Tax. 

For those that will suffer hardship, there will be a Council Tax Discretionary Hardship Fund: 

 This is additional funding set aside to help households struggling to pay their Council Tax bills. It is separate to the CTS scheme.

1. The amount set aside will depend on the overall scheme. The fund will provide support for those most in need, so not everyone who sees a reduction in their entitlement will get it, as support will be for those in hardship.
2. Claimants to the Hardship Fund will have to make a separate claim for this. Applicants will have to provide evidence of their financial circumstances and demonstrate that all appropriate steps to claim all discounts and benefits has been taken and they are making the best use of their income to pay their  Council Tax. We will expect people to take up any support or advice that is offered to improve their financial situation, and to claim other support the council offers. This is the same or like how other council’s offer support when they change to a banded scheme. 

We support households in many other ways, including welfare support, housing and financial help for families.

The scheme will have a number of income bands where people can have  income up to the  higher amount before going down to the next band.  The band will also take into account who is living in your home, your household makeup.  Each band has a certain percentage of entitlement attached to it.

This will mean that claimants will be able to see what they will be entitled to, before they claim, and how changes in income will impact their entitlement. Small changes in income, will often mean no change to CTS as long as they stay within the same income band.

Yes, the allowed capital level reduces from £16,000 to £6,000 per claim (this is capital that both the claimant and partner has).  Anyone with over this amount will not qualify for any Council Tax support.

No. Claimants will not see their Council Tax Support reduced because they have another adult (not their partner) living with them, a non-dependent is often a son or daughter.

No, it will be ignored.

Yes, £25 will be ignored from earned income for all claimants whatever their income or household make up is. This removes the various different levels we current have to make the scheme simpler. 

In some cases we will also reduce the earnings we take into account by the cost of child care costs (up to £175.00 for households with 1 child and up to £300 for two or more children. 

Yes. We will continue to ignore the disability benefits that we currently do. We will also disregard £40.00 from these claimants’ incomes. (This is in addition to any earnings disregards that we have applied)

Child benefit, foster allowance and guardians allowance will be ignored.

No. Claimants won’t be able to claim this additional entitlement, but they  will still be able to claim entitlement based on their income.

Yes but it will be reduced by an amount in respect of Housing Element, along with Limited Capability for work Element and Disabled Child Element.

We thought about what changes we could make to the current scheme,  but this is not the best way to provide support for residents and it will not simplify understanding or administration.

Around half of national councils, and most of our neighbouring authorities have changed to a Banded Council Tax Support scheme already or are planning to in future years.