Council Tax Support Scheme 2024-25 Consultation
We want you to share your views on a proposed plan to give care leavers a 100 per cent discount on their council tax. The aim of the plan is to financially support them whilst they develop independent lives and life skills.
To qualify the care leaver must be:
- up to the age of 25,
- living in the Exeter district,
- and be looked after by Devon County Council.
What is Council Tax Support?
Council Tax Support, also known as Council Tax Reduction, is a discount off a Council Tax bill. The level of discount given is based on the income of the household. Currently the maximum discount for pension age households is 100%, and for working age households it is 80%.
Councils are required to review their schemes each year and decide if they want to make any changes. Before any changes can be implemented, they must be subject to public consultation.
The Council can only make changes to the working age scheme as the scheme for pension age households is controlled by Central Government.
What is the proposal?
We are proposing to introduce a class of support within the working age scheme to award 100% council tax support to care leavers looked after by Devon County Council, up to age 25.
We have a duty to consult you and provide you with the opportunity to tell us your views on this proposed change. All other parts of the existing scheme will remain unchanged.
You can find full details of the current scheme in our Council Tax Reduction Scheme Policy document.
Why is this change being proposed?
There is an ambition between Devon County Council and the district authorities in Devon to achieve a 100% council tax exemption for care leavers who qualify.
Care leavers face the challenge of having to cope with the demands of living on their own at a young age. This includes having to maintain a home and manage finances, without support from family. In Exeter they are a particularly vulnerable group for Council Tax debt. In Exeter, 64% of care leavers with council tax to pay are in arrears and struggling to pay.
At the Devon Strategic Corporate Parenting Board, work is underway to look at an enhanced approach to corporate parenting. Recently, the National Adviser for Care Leavers within the Department for Education met with Devon County Council and associated partners. The aim of this meeting was to improve the outcomes for care leavers and improving the experience of being looked after.
One area, endorsed by the National Adviser, is the introduction of a council tax exemption for care leavers aged 18 up to 25.
This age limit is being proposed to match that of the first cross-government care leaver strategy published in 2013, which includes:
- extending support from a local authority Personal Adviser to age 25,
- meeting training costs for care leavers undertaking apprenticeships up to age 25,
- and in order to assist care leavers in achieving financial stability, reviewing the case to extend the exemption to the Shared Accommodation Rate of housing support within Universal Credit, for care leavers to age 25
Discussions have been held about how to financially support care leavers while they develop independent lives and life skills. Whilst not mitigating the impact of all of the disadvantages that care leavers have experienced, a 100% council tax discount can assist care leavers to overcome them.
We, along with the other Devon district authorities, therefore wish to implement a scheme to support care leavers with paying their council tax.
There are unique challenges that looked-after children and care leavers face. 60% of children become looked-after due to abuse or neglect and they have poorer educational and health outcomes than their peers.
Application of the Corporate Parenting Principles is intended to ensure that the councils respond to the individual needs, vulnerabilities or disadvantages of looked-after children and care leavers. This will help to make sure that such children and young people are not placed at significant disadvantage.
Who will this affect?
Care leavers, up to the age of 25, living in the Exeter district who have a council tax liability and whose corporate parent is Devon County Council.
How will this change be funded?
As Council Tax Support is funded through the Council Tax Base, the costs are shared in proportion with the amount the preceptors receive.
The latest information provided by Devon County Council confirms that there are 161 care leavers aged 18 to 24 living in Exeter, of which 50 have a council tax liability.
If this support for care leavers is introduced, based on that latest information, the annual cost would be £24,836 and that would be shared between preceptors as follows:
|
Preceptor |
% |
Cost |
|
Devon County Council |
75.38% |
£18,721 |
|
Exeter City Council |
8.08% |
£2,007 |
|
Police & Crime Commissioner for Devon & Cornwall |
12.07% |
£2,998 |
|
Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Authority |
4.47% |
£1,110 |
Respoonses and Outcome
This consultation is now closed. See the feedback we received to this consultation.
From 1 April 2024 we have introduced a class of support within the working age scheme to award 100% council tax support to care leavers. Young people up to the age of 25, living in the Exeter district who have a council tax liability and whose corporate parent is Devon County Council are eligible.