Townsfolk chance to have your say on council benefit changes (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)

Townsfolk chance to have your say on council benefit changes

8:00am Friday 19th October 2012 in News

BROMSGROVE residents are being encouraged to have their say on possible changes to council tax benefits.

In the last year the Government reviewed the amount allocated nationally to the benefits, and this has resulted in a 10 per cent reduction in the amount given to local authorities to fund council tax benefit.

This had led to a reduction of £61,000 in the budget allocation for Bromsgrove District Council.

The benefits scheme is to be replaced by a local support scheme.

To enable the council to offset the reduction in allocation a number of proposals are being put forward.

These include a proposed reduction in the council tax discount currently available for empty properties, council tax discount to be limited to the value of a Band D property, full council tax to be payable on second homes, and no discount on long term empty properties.

Bromsgrove District Council leader Roger Hollingworth said: “While, under the scheme, there will be no change to the amount of help which pensioners receive, we have still considered the impact of the most vulnerable while designing the new scheme.

“We have put the proposals together to make the necessary savings but to protect our residents as much as possible.”

The consultation will run until November 30.

A PDF of the survey is available at bromsgrove.gov.uk.

For a hard copy call 01527 881288 or pop into the council's Customer Service Centre in School Drive.