The government, supported by much of the tabloid media,
portrays those in receipt of benefits as workless and idle. The reality is that
many of those benefits go to working families on low incomes, and they are
going to be the hardest hit by a series of cuts in financial support.
Council Tax Benefit provides support to 5.9 million
low-income families – including many pensioners- more than any other
means-tested benefit or tax credit in the UK. The government is devolving
decisions about and the budget for the benefit to local councils from next
April. However, at the same time, the government is cutting 10 per cent off the
funding it provides for council tax support, but limiting how local schemes can
be constructed. Clearly the intention is that the government gets the credit
for cutting welfare spending and councils get the blame for the cuts.
About 2 million low-income working households currently
receive council tax benefit In fact, many more working households will be
affected, as many low-income families experience temporary or short-term work
and go in and out of benefit during the course of a year.
From next April, they will face a cut in that benefit of
about £250 a year – for some it could be even bigger. Councils will be faced
with the considerable expense of trying to collect £5 a week from millions of
households. It’s little wonder that Conservative Lord Patrick Jenkin – who
conceived the original Poll Tax – has described this as Poll Tax Mark
2. Personally, I think it should be called the Pickles Tax, after
its originator Eric Pickles, the current Conservative Secretary of State for
Communities and Local Government.
Now, after councils have ended consultations on local
council tax benefit schemes, Eric Pickles has suddenly realized that his tax is
heading for disaster and panicked. He’s suddenly announced a one year £100
million package – from the annual £500 million he’s cutting – to try to avoid
the shambles ahead.
However, the conditions that Eric Pickles is proposing – and
remember it’s only for one year – almost certainly mean that councils could
only access these funds by increasing even further the cuts to other council
services. Councils will be damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. Does
Eric Pickles care? I doubt it.
