Council tax bills across North Yorkshire are going to need to be standardised when the new unitary council takes over next April and it could reduce some bills in the Scarborough Borough.
Currently not all aspects of council tax are the same in each district and the way discounts are applied also varies across the county.
Kerry Metcalfe from Scarborough Borough Council's finance team has been working on the project to standardise the bills.
Currently each district and borough has it's own discount scheme.
Councillors are now looking at how to standardise that across the county, next week the county council's executive will consider a proposal to provide up to 100 percent discounts on some bills.
Kerry Metcalfe says finance team's from across the county have been working on the proposals which is expected to more costly than the schemes it replaces.
A report which will be discussed at the next meeting of the authority’s executive on Tuesday, July 19, sets out how the new council tax reduction scheme will be introduced when the new North Yorkshire Council is established in April next year.
The county council’s deputy leader and executive member for finance, Cllr Gareth Dadd, said:
“The move to streamline how we provide such an important scheme will benefit thousands of people across North Yorkshire.
“Rising costs have affected us all, but it is those who are on the lowest incomes who are feeling the effects the most, and this new scheme will be essential to ensure that they are given the greatest amount of support possible.
“The new approach to providing the council tax reduction scheme will not only make it easier for people to apply for support, but it will also help streamline its administration when the new council launches next year.
“As a council, we are committed to helping the most vulnerable in society, both financially and socially, and the proposed new scheme will be an important addition to that mission.”
The proposed scheme is expected to increase the overall level of support for the lowest income households, whilst reducing the administrative burden placed on the new council by the introduction of Universal Credit.
The current structure has seen different approaches administered across North Yorkshire’s existing seven district and borough councils, which are the authorities responsible for the billing of council tax.
For instance, three of the current district councils in Craven, Hambleton and Scarborough still require working age applicants to pay a minimum amount of their council tax bills, with the greatest contribution being 12.5 per cent. The remaining districts and borough authorities allow working age applicants up to 100 per cent financial support for their council tax bills.
The cost of introducing the new scheme is expected to be £38 million, and will require an additional £2.3 million for it to be delivered when compared to the current structure which is administered by North Yorkshire’s district and borough councils.
However, £2 million is set to be used from funding raised through a council tax discounts and premiums scheme, while the efficiencies achieved by introducing the unified approach are expected to cover the extra costs.
The revised plans for a council tax reduction scheme for North Yorkshire are expected to be presented to a full council meeting of the county council for final approval in November. An eight-week consultation on the proposals is planned to be carried out from July 25 until September 18.
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