Memorandum by Portsmouth City Council
(CTB 1)
The case for rebranding council
tax benefit as a "rebate";
We believe that this would be a positive move,
as many people feel that there is a stigma attached to the phrase
"benefit".
The role and effectiveness of
Government in increasing council tax benefit uptake levels;
We welcome efforts to increase uptake of CTB
entitlement.
The case for improvements to
the processing of pension credit claims to enable the Pension
Service to act as a portal to rebates for all callers, regardless
of pension credit eligibility, and to examine steps to improve
data sharing, and There is a clear case for maximising data sharing
opportunities, and this principle needs to be extended over all
benefit types. There are anomalies in the system where customers
are made to jump through unnecessary hoopsfor example,
where claimants on Housing Benefit have to change in their circumstances
which would bring them into Council Tax Benefit, but are made
to make a new claim for CTB.
The Case for reform of the council
tax benefit eligibility criteria including the case for changing
of abolishing the saving limit in council tax benefit for pensioners,
and the case for aligning council tax rebate thresholds with other
parts of the tax system.
As with any major change the devil will be in
the detail, so we would like to see the proposals to understand
how it would impact on other benefits. We would be concerned if
we had to apply different rules for Housing Benefit and Council
Tax Benefit which may confuse customers and may lead to changes
not being reported.
However, the underlying principle appears to
have credibility and could remove some of the complications involved
in assisting pensioners with their Council Tax.
June 2007
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