Cabinet recommends offering full Council Tax Support to low or no-income families in Boston Borough

Boston Borough Council's Cabinet is recommending more help for low or no-income families to manage the cost of their annual council tax.

The Council has carried out a fundamental review of the Council Tax Support Scheme which concluded with a period of public consultation with residents, organisations and other authorities who set council tax. 

Following that process, Cabinet last night (Thursday 12 December) voted to recommend increasing the maximum amount to households with children who receive the benefit from 75 per cent to 100 per cent.

According to recent Department for Work and Pension estimates, around one in three children in Boston Borough live in low-income households. There are currently 1,109 households with children who receive council tax support, of which 727 receive the maximum award.

The Cabinet voted to recommend increasing the amount of support for other households to 85 per cent.

The Cabinet also voted to recommend to Council the creation of a discretionary Exceptional Hardship Fund to help people even more during these economic times. This fund would include extra financial help while directing people to other support services they could be eligible for.

Cllr Anne Dorrian, Leader of Boston Borough Council, said: "I would like to thank those residents who took the time to share their views as part of the consultation.

"In reaching this decision, Cabinet considered all the responses carefully and we also examined the finance data in great detail. This showed overwhelmingly that the people who struggled the most to pay their council tax bills were families with children. It's a very sad situation that our borough has approximately one third of our children living in poverty, whose parents are really struggling to make ends meet during these difficult economic times. This kind of financial strain brings huge amounts of worry and stress to families, some of whom get a fright every time a bill arrives on the doormat.

"We hope that this small measure will alleviate some of that pressure, and help them cope whilst they're at a low point in their lives.

"The Cabinet is also recommending to Council to make the scheme easier to run as well as a new Exceptional Hardship Fund to offer even more support to the most vulnerable in our community.

"Council will meet in the New Year to decide on our recommendations. If approved, the changes will be implemented in time for the next financial year."