This past Monday, we plunged into an insightful discussion about EntitledTo’s annual review on council tax reduction (CTR) schemes. Karen Holmes, a notable figure from E2, expertly steered the conversation, with a host of panellists offering valuable insights. Three key takeaways emerged from the review:
- There’s a growing trend towards 100% awards.
- Councils are striving to simplify their schemes, with numerous variations on the income banding theme.
- The regional variation in schemes is leading to a postcode lottery scenario.
The latter point sparked a vibrant debate. Paul Howarth and Malcolm Gardner embraced this variation, seeing it as a mechanism for uncovering best practices and a testament to democracy in action. However, Laura Bessell diverged, arguing that these variations undermine principles of fairness and equality. This sentiment resonated with the delegates engaged in the online chat.
With the triple pressures of budget, recovery, and supporting vulnerable individuals, it is evident that CTR Schemes will continue to evolve. Organisations such as EntitledTo, Policy in Practice, and Ferret Systems offer consultancy services to assist in designing such schemes. Additionally, Visionary Network provides a service to redraft complex schemes into more straightforward language.
The session also highlighted the crucial role of sharing discretionary schemes with software developers in charge of the increasingly popular welfare calculators. Led by Manuel Peleteiro of InBest.ai, we delved into the importance of CTR schemes. These days, citizens have access to a wealth of electronic calculators and application forms to check their eligibility for the wide range of support available. This includes, but is not limited to, Ascendant’s Apply4online, EntitledTo’s Benefit calculator, Policy in Practice’s Better off calculator, and offerings from Turn2us, Ferret, GovTech, Team Netsol, and more.
With such a proliferation of digital portals, it is vital to ensure that each is kept up to date. To this end, we have established a form at https://bit.ly/CTR2324. Here, you can notify and upload both CTR and discretionary schemes, and we’ll distribute this information to the relevant software providers.
The provided slide pack furnishes additional information on COVID business grants, high-rate taxpayers, the removal of housing rights for asylum seekers, and a plethora of other topics.
Lastly, a quick reminder that there will be no session next week due to the bank holiday. Looking forward to reconvening thereafter for more engaging discussions!
The recording: https://bit.ly/VN230522
The slide pack is below with links to the reports and tables mentioned in the slide pack and recording.
Here is the link to our WhatsApp group: https://bit.ly/3Qjrkqe
Please note: the slide pack holds additional slides covering other items of interest in the news and job adverts which are supplied in partnership by Business Smart (https://www.businesssmartsolutions.co.uk/).
The link to EntitledTo’s CTR Report is https://www.entitledto.co.uk/ctr-report