Council Tax

[EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime]

Does Labour plan to scrap the single person council tax discount?

Yes correct. Someone on Pension credit Guarantee would get all council tax paid for them but others just above the threshold would likely still get some discount if living alone and there's all kinds of other possible discounts and disregards for disability, severe mental impairment etc. I do a lot of benefit checks for older people and whilst i don't entirely know the ins and outs of how it's worked out, it does seem that council tax support is one of the benefits that many qualify for even when excluded from others. But yes pensioners are already reeling form the winter fuel payment fiasco so don't need any more worries !

@Lavendersquare

Great logic there. Find one way single people are shafted (tv licence) & use that to justify shafting them in other ways.

@Lavendersquare

oh & as I said earlier. They need to sort out false claims. Not penalise us claiming legitimately!

overall it's not that 'expensive', a lot less than MP Expenses. Much of which are a falsely claimed and a complete piss take.

Blooming heck. I didn't realise this. Bash us? Why ?

I totally agree. There are some very strange Council Tax bandings about. I recently discovered that you can find out the bandings for properties in the area that I live in, on-line. It has been quite an eye- opening experience.
I have discovered that most of the houses around me are in a lower band, despite being the same sort of house.
I found out the same for a friends house. Her and her semi- detached neighbour are both banded at D when most of the rest of the street is only a C band , despite being the same type of houses.
To add insult to injury, I've found out that some houses near to my son's school which are much more expensive than my house and in a much nicer area are banded in a lower band to mine.
A lot of this, I think, has got to do with how the bandings were applied in the first place. It was all done in a big hurry, with a lot of drive- by valuations being carried out.
Anyway, me and my friend have decided to make an appeal to have the bandings investigated. It's all got to do with what they think your house was worth in 1991, but that doesn't explain the discrepancies in the bandings.

Personally I think they will abolish it because they are already getting flack for the winter fuel removal

my mum lost her winter fuel payment because of a tiny private pension. She liked having the security of being able to put her heating on when needed

she lives alone in housing association housing. What the house is worth doesn’t benefit her at all. Why should the property value make any difference to what she has to pay in council tax

As if anyone actually thought that a labour govt would put more money in our pockets, everyone knew a labour govt would cost taxpayers more.

@spikeandbuffy24

EXACTLY!!!

I've just been made redundant too (at 55) from an industry that wants young people, that has had a massive fall in wage levels & id worked my way up in, to less physical role, but you cant go into a new role at that level. Even if zi could, it's now paying about half the wages it was pre covid, pre col.

im feeling fairly fucked already, but as a single person the Govt seem to want to put the boot in!

Yes you could do, what system is perfect?

It is unlikely a millionaire would live in a 2 bed terrace and the pensioner who bought their house in 1955 in Chelsea can be given assistance, same as happens now.

Ability to Pay? i think that could lead to people hiding what they actually have.

@Timetotrimtoenails

well said!

id like to know what that poster thinks I use more of??

What on earth are you talking about? We are all paying for the young, elderly and disabled in society. It's odd that you view children as belonging to their parents as opposed to their own entities. In the vast majority of cases child free people have had their own education, childhood healthcare etc funded by the state. It makes more sense that they consider how they can contribute enough to fund their own burden on the state from the cradle to the grave rather than assuming that parents somehow automatically cover their child's burden between the ages of 0-18.

By your approach, people who have parents or grandparents that died young should be angry about paying for adult social care for the elderly as they are funding someone else's parents/grandparents! See that clearly makes no sense as we view adults as the individuals that they are. Children are no different.

Also anecdotes aren't data. The statistics are clear about who does the majority of unpaid care I'm families and it isn't nieces and cousins. Of course there are no guarantees and nobody has an obligation to care for another person but in reality many adult children do step in to help their elderly parents.

It would make more sense to remove it from Bands E+ - and while they are at it maybe add more bands at the top for the really expensive houses.

@Bumpitybumper

oh give over. As people age both people in a couple are just as likely to need care as a single person.

yes, having children might cut down care costs for a short while, but will not add up to years of me getting a 25% discount for a few years over the families sharing that cost.

a couple with younger children are splitting CT, they pay 50% and get the befits of CT Fir their children too. I pay 75% and get no additional benefits over those parents paying 50%

... and that's fair how?

then if they scrap SD I pay 100.% and they pay 50% and get FAR less for it, let alone when their children start working & live at home until they're 30. 25% they're paying I'm paying 100%

@Xenia

I don't use housing services, social services or schools. I don't claim any benefits. How exactly do you think I'm a heavy user of council services?

Starmer also said he is taking anti social behaviour seriously (there was a feature about it in Good Housekeeping last month) but im betting that doesnt include for those of us on social housing estates. Where does he think some of the prisoners he is letting out early, are going to eventually end up living,

The cost of care is so extortionate that actually depending on how much CT you pay, it could quite quickly add up to a lifetime of paying 25% extra CT. Do you know how much care homes cost per week?

As I mentioned up thread children are their own entity and shouldn't be bundled as an additional beneficiary. We all had a childhood where our education etc could have been funded by the state. Child free people don't get to just forget this and make out that the only beneficiaries of services aimed at children are other people's kids when they themselves benefited. You enjoyed paying no CT when you were a kid. You benefitted then. Stop begrudging other children getting the same as you enjoyed.

Also factually, having a partner reduces the likelihood you will burden the state system with Farr costs as much as being single. This is statistics. You may both end up needing care if in a couple,, but there is a good chance that the needs won't come at exactly the same time so there is often the opportunity for one partner to care for the other, at least for a period of time.

God I hope not, my mum is 80, she has about 15k in the bank to her name so doesn't get pension credits as she has savings - she's in rental as never owned and now she's lost the heating support and if this happens she will be out of savings faster.

She only has the state pension, all the calculations are done on today's costs for how long before she needs to apply for social housing.

I'll have to push this forward now.

I suggested everyone wait until the actual facts are known before they panic. Perhaps look up the meaning of "suggest"?

So happy to have had the chance to provide you with clarification.

@iwishihadknownmore

she did not say they weren't going to remove SPD, she said they weren't going to raise the council tax. That's not the same

+Pity all those moaning now kept quiet when student loan threshold reduced and payment period extended from 30 to 40 years oh and super hi interest rate charges*

oh give over & stop spouting crap, you have NO idea what any of us did/said about any of that.

THIS!

and the child free are the ones usually expected to do more like the Christmas shifts. While being told they deserve less. I had a thread on this very subject on the child free board last year Now i have something new to add to it.

NO SHE HASNT!

She said they aren't going to increase CT.

she didn't say they're not going to get rid of the single person discount!

it's NOT the same thing!

People can still get pension credit with 15k savings in the bank. They just assume a small amount of income from any savings over 10k. the first 10k is disregarded. The calculation is based on pensions ( state and private) and savings. I have seen some people have 70k savings and still get Pension credit because they have a very low state pension. It is always worth running a benefit check.

@tealpassat doesn't she get housing benefit?

You do realise you can claim for carers allowance, attendance allowance etc when you need care. So it's bs to keep saying well a partner will do the caring, well they can claim carers allowance don't forget!

So let's stop harping on like single people in old age needing care is going to cost more.

And as a single person I'm already making my own provisions to pay for care thank you very much. Mostly cos I want to be able to afford the best care I can but thay is besides the point.