Should there be an official mechanism to pay the £100 bonus back?

[Katypp]

Clearly the Chancellor's £100 payment for council tax A-D homes is far too broad and is coming to many people who don't need it.
We've had plenty of posts on here from people who say they will get it unnecessarily, live in big houses, have high incomes etc.
Surely it would be a good idea to set up some sort of official mechanism to make it easy to pay the £100 back to the Government if it is not needed? A button to press on online banking to reject it, or a website to make repayment simple?
There's plenty who say they will give it to charity etc, but will they really?

Excellent. You will be using it to support a hospitality business. Another win for the scheme!

It’s a rather odd measure. I hope that the various fuel poverty charities can get some publicity to make it easy for people who don’t need the money for fuel to donate it to them. That would serve the purpose it’s intended for better than just giving it back to the government.

Don't know how you get that from my post.
I'm not bothered what anyone does with theirs. I won't get it anyway.
Just thought it might be a good idea to offer an easy way to refuse it.
I know you can make a donation to the Govt but this would just be one click.
Never mind.

Please do consider donating it to a local charity. I am trustee of a small charity and we do so much work in the local area but never really get donations (I guess because our beneficiaries are people who are struggling financially so very few feel comfortable to talk publicly about what we do even if they thank us privately). There are lots of amazing charities out there

I don't need it but I'm taking it. Have never had any government help in my life. Plenty of people on benefits who don't need it so I'm happy to be included in something for once.

Other side of the fence, I need it but my house is not in the bracket. Its on the market via divorce but im the one thats been left in the house, paying mortgage etc whilst also being unable to work..

Instead of just giving it to people, people should have to claim it. Then only people who need it will get it.
I am on a fairly low pension and will not get as my house is band E. It is nothing fancy, just a 3 bed semi. I think it is time that Council tax banding was reassessed. My previous house was much bigger, and now worth considerably more than my current one, but it is Band D.

Going back to the logic of using council tax bands - I’ve just checked DM’s band - she lives in a retirement flat. Shes band C, but other flats in the same building are B or D, but they are all pretty much the same.
Also, of the 30 houses in our cul de sac, 28 are band E and 2 are band F. Some have been extended, some haven’t, but that doesn’t tally with the banding differences.
Oure has “improvement factor” = yes but next door’s, which has been extended twice since we’ve lived here =no.
It seems the bandings are a bit of a lottery anyway.

@KnickerlessParsonsextending your house doesn't change your council tax band. Unless it was done before the 90s when the bands were set.

A fair few posts saying they don’t need it, I wonder what the numbers would be like if it was up to people claiming it.

what does the “improvement factor” refer to then? And why would just two houses in a road where all the houses are the same, be a different band from all the others?

I completely agree that council tax bands should be reassessed. They're really outdated.

But for this scheme in particular, my understanding is requiring people to claim it could actually end up more expenisve for the government - for people to apply and claim, the government would need to set up the application portal, hire people to assess the applications etc. But this way, because local councils already hold bank details for direct debits, sending the money automatically requires very little extra staff or infrastructure.

Plus 18 layers of 'are you sure you're not being conned' and going through 2 factor authentication. All once you've actually logged into your bank account of course.

Where are you imagining this 'one click' refusal option being placed? What about security and the Internet criminals who are currently busy designing 'the government are giving you £100 CoL payment, click here to give us access to your account so we can steal your money to claim' emails.

We are band C and have a very nice, comfortable typical 30s house with large garden. We feel like we live in a safe area but our town is without doubt pretty deprived. However, our council tax is higher here than band D houses in other areas and even than some band E houses.
The band D houses opposite are gorgeous but admittedly probably take a lot to heat with their 5-7 bedrooms, multiple reception rooms etc..

The whole thing around council banding and the cost of council tax is quite strange, so pinning a rebate to it seems a strange decision though maybe done for ease and cost effectiveness.

The £100 will be appreciated and we most certainly won't be trying to give it back.

I'd assume numbers would be lower if there were an active application required, but it certainly wouldn't mean nobody who could manage without it claimed it.

School mums today (half term meet up) were saying they’ll use it to pay for membership of Reform… such is the contempt round here for this gvt assumimg we are gulllible sheep and blatantly trying to buy our votes.

Well they're certainly doing that. Today's appraisal of the budget has been scathing to say the least.

No idea. But I extended my house (quite substantially) and my band didn't change.

If anyone's interested; I'm with Octopus and they have an option to make donations/round up your energy payments to give to a chosen charity.

It would cost more to administrate. Plenty of worthwhile causes, including energy charities, Age UK, Citizens Advice, food banks, women's refuges...and so on.

Yes me too 👍