We asked, you said, we did

We asked

We asked for your views on the proposed changes to the Council Tax Support (CTS) Scheme in 2025/26.

You said

We received 418 responses to the statutory consultation during the seven-week period. Responses were mainly received from residents (95.05%), and also received from the Greater London Authority, Chipping Barnet Foodbank and Citizens Advice Bureau.

Key findings on the overall proposal were:

• three quarters of respondents disagree (75.07%, 277 out of 369 respondents) with the council’s proposed CTS Scheme for 2025/26 (64.50%, 238 out of 369 respondents strongly disagree, and 10.57%, 39 out of 369 respondents tend to disagree)
• a minority agree (12.74%, 47 out of 369 respondents) with the council’s proposed CTS Scheme for 2025/26 (5.42%, 20 out of 369 strongly agree, and 7.32%, 27 out of 369 respondents tend to agree)
• The remainder were either neutral (9.21 %, 31 out of 369 respondents) or said they did not know or were not sure (2.98%, 11 out of 369 respondents).

We did

The feedback in the consultation was considered, however, due to the need to make a saving within the council a balanced approach was required.

At the Cabinet meeting on 18 February 2025 it was decided to make the changes proposed within the consultation, this included the maximum award of Council Tax Support for working-age residents was lowered from 72% to 70% and a the scheme is now capped at the equivalent of Council Tax Band C, this means that anyone residing in a property that is banded for Council Tax between Band D-H will now have their Council Tax Support award calculated up the equivalent amount of a Band C property.