Welcome to Council Tax Support, a new resource on the changes to Council Tax Benefit. This website details the key features of each English local authority’s Council Tax Support scheme  alongside an analysis of the impacts of the council tax benefit reform.

This is not an advice site. If you believe that you may be affected by the changes, please contact your local authority for further details or Citizens Advice for support.

Changes to Council Tax Benefit

From April 2013 Council Tax Benefit (CTB) will be abolished and replaced by Council Tax Support (CTS). As part of the reform English local authorities have to devise their own schemes of CTS. This means a move from one national system to 326 local schemes in England alone.

All councils will have 10% less funding for CTS than they did under CTB. They are required by central government to provide the same level of support to pensioners as under CTB so any cut in support falls entirely on working-age recipients. Some councils will replicate the former CTB system and make savings elsewhere in their budgets. Other councils will make the savings by reducing the number of people entitled to the benefit and/or cutting the amount of benefit people receive.

The benefit system has always been nationally devised. The introduction of CTS marks the first time that benefit rules will vary by location. It has implications for every local authority and for the 3.1 million working-age CTB claimants in England.

April 2017 update

The latest data on Council Tax Support schemes in England – how they work, how many claimants are affected and by how much.