Councillors back lowest council tax bills in the country while thousands of households to receive help paying their council tax bills

Published: Friday, March 8, 2024

  • Residents will pay the lowest council tax in the country.
  • Council Tax Reduction scheme made simpler and more generous.
  • £15million Cost-of-Living support scheme is London’s biggest.

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Councillors have agreed that the town hall should take decisive action to protect residents from the ongoing economic crisis on three fronts: setting the country’s lowest council tax, extending the Council Tax Reduction scheme (CTR) and bolstering London’s leading cost of living support package.
 
The council has agreed to amend the CTR scheme to make it more generous. This review of the financial assistance offered to lower income residents in Wandsworth under the scheme has led to 2,804 working age households receiving help in paying their Council Tax.
 
The changes, which will apply from April, means a total of 8,912 working age Wandsworth households will receive some form of assistance under CTR. Many of these households will pay no council tax at all. Pensioner households are not affected by the change but can still receive up to 100 per cent support towards their council tax bill.
 
To help them pay the current year’s bills, for those families already receiving help under CTR, the council chose to reduce their bills by an additional £150 – slashing bills to zero for a further 849 households.
  
The council has already taken decisive action to cushion hard-pressed residents from the worst effects of the cost of living crisis. Last month it announced its intention to freeze the main element of council tax bills for the second year running – a decision that was confirmed earlier this week - meaning Wandsworth residents will pay the lowest bills in the country. 

And last week it announced that its cost of living support fund was to increase from £10m to £15m – the biggest and most generous scheme of its kind in London.
 
Council leader Simon Hogg said: “We have protected all our residents from rising household bills by freezing our main share of council tax for the second year running.
 
“But we know that even with our bills being the cheapest in the country many Wandsworth households are still struggling to make ends meet. That is why we have put in place a revised Council Tax Reduction scheme so that our hardest hit and most vulnerable households can receive the extra help they so desperately need.” 
 
“This is just one of the ways we are building a Wandsworth that is fairer and more compassionate with opportunity for all.”   
     
For more information about the scheme visit https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/housing/benefits-and-support/council-tax-reduction/