We were pleased to present the findings from our latest Council Tax Reduction (CTR) survey at the Institute of Revenues, Ratings and Valuation’s (IRRV) Spring Conference and Exhibition today.

We worked in conjunction with the New Policy Institute to collect the data about CTR schemes being used by councils across the UK and one of our benefits experts, Karen Holmes, carried out the analysis in the lead up to the IRRV conference.

Each local authority’s website was reviewed to find out if there was a change to their CTR scheme between 2021/22 and 2022/23, so that users of our benefits calculators can get accurate and up-to-date information about their entitlement to this benefit. If so, the details of the scheme are updated in our rolling dataset.

Some of the main trends we found were as follows:

• 11% of local authorities in England changed how they calculate Council Tax Reduction for 2022/23 (35 local authorities)
• The most common change was to reduce minimum payments for the poorest households (16 local authorities). Only two local authorities increased their minimum payment this year
• The second most common change was to introduce an income-banded scheme (12 local authorities). Around a quarter of Council Tax Reduction schemes are now income banded.
• Simplifications included abolishing non dependant deductions or setting a flat rate (9 local authorities) and removing tariff income on capital (6 local authorities).

Please contact us if you would like to receive a copy of the full analysis or a further report detailing the now 84 income-banded schemes in place across the country.

Further ways we can help you

If you work for a local authority that’s thinking of changing its CTR scheme we may be able to assist you. Please get in touch! Use our contact us form to let us know how we may be able to help.