Under the present scheme other adults in the households such as adult sons and daughters are taken into consideration when calculating the Council Tax reduction.   We call it a non-dependent deduction.  This means less Council Tax reduction is awarded.  The current scheme assumes the other adults in the household will pay towards the Council Tax bill. 

We propose removing the rule that takes other adults, such as adult sons and daughters, into consideration.  This does NOT include partners, whose income will continue to be taken into account.

The benefits are:

• Affected residents will get (be awarded) more of a reduction on their Council Tax.
• Residents will not have to collect money to pay the Council Tax from the other adults (other than their partner).
• Residents will not have to ask questions about other adults’ finances and report any changes to the Council (other than their partner). 
• This may means fewer changes to their claims that residents have to tell the Council and the Council has to work out for a new Council Tax bill.  Fewer changes can make it easier for low income households to budget their money.
• This change is simple to make and makes the scheme simper to administer.

However, There may be more costs to the scheme because more Council Tax reduction will be awarded.  We don’t know how much that will be, at this time. 

If you know anything else the Council needs to consider please tell us in your response.

Read about proposal four