A councillor has called for changes to the council tax support scheme to be introduced sooner to help people in Lichfield and Burntwood.
Members of Lichfield District Council’s cabinet were debating a review of the almost decade-old current system.
A number of options are being considered as a replacement, with council chiefs leaning towards a banded scheme which would see household incomes used to determine the scale of discount for working age claimants.
The changes are likely to be implemented in 2023, but Cllr Iain Eadie, deputy leader of the council urged cabinet member for finance Cllr Rob Strachan to speed up the switch.
“More than 100 councils have moved to this option [banded scheme], so I would go as far as to say that this is now accepted as good practice.
“Why can’t we learn from that? Why can’t we do our own review much faster rather than leaving people to suffer for another year?”
Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Council
Cllr Strachan – who had also told the meeting the current system had the potential to lock some claimants into “perpetual debt” – said a full review was required before any change could be put into place.
“If there was an option I had to commit to now, that [the banded system] would be it.
“We do still have to go through the process of consulting with partners though, including the county council who would stand to make a loss as a result of this.
“In that dialogue there may be options that come forward to create a hybrid system.
“I’ve been advised that it’s better we start at the head of an administrative year and that we weren’t quite ready this time around.”
Cllr Rob Strachan, Lichfield District Council
“We are locking people into debt”
Cllr Eadie said the delay would exacerbate the financial pressures facing local residents struggling to make ends meet.
“The reality is that we are locking people into debt who don’t have the ability to pay – and we are adding another year on top.
“What can you do to bring relief sooner? You’ve give people a noose around their neck with more debt as they find, through no fault of their own, that costs are going up and we are not helping.
“What can we do that helps even if we can’t bring it in until 2023? Can we apply it retrospectively so we as an authority don’t end up putting them further into debt?”
Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Council
Cllr Strachan said current measures did allow the council to help those facing difficulties.
“We can use the suite of discretionary options to ease the hardships people have.
“There’s a humber of applications put before me where people have been struggling and I will continue, where I can, to ease that burden.”
Cllr Rob Strachan, Lichfield District Council