Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

RESOLVED:  To note there were no Reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that no declarations of interests were made at this meeting.

To consider the appointment of a Vice-Chair to the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Sub-Committee for the Municipal Year 2024-2025.

RESOLVED:  To note that Councillor Jerry Miles was appointed Vice-Chair for the 2024-2025 Municipal Year.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2023 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2023 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To note any public questions received.

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, <DATE>.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received at the meeting.

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors.

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received.

To receive any references from Council and/or other Committees or Panels.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

Report of the Director of Finance and Assurance.

The Sub-Committee considered the Annual Review of the Council Tax Support (CTS) Scheme for 2025/26 Financial Year.  The report would be presented to Cabinet on 25 July 2024. Cabinet would be asked for authority to carry out a full consultation as required by legislation.

Moreover, a report would be submitted to the Sub-Committee and Cabinet later in the year with the results of the consultation.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Highways introduced the report and set out the background to the proposed consultation.

The Sub-Committee were informed that Council Tax Support (CTS) was previously funded by Central Government through a grant, with the Council being responsible for the administration, alongside Housing Benefit (HB).  However, from April 2013, this system changed with the introduction of a locally determined system of council tax support.

In the discussion that ensued, the Sub-Committee asked the following questions, and made comments:

·                 In response to how the proposed scheme would protect vulnerable residents from Council Tax increases in the consultation, it was advised that a range of options to amend the Council Tax Support Scheme had been considered, which included: changing the value of the income band thresholds; reducing the maximum award for non-protected and protected households; restricting council tax support to a higher council tax band; adopting minimum weekly entitlement amounts; and increasing non-dependent deductions. Vulnerable residents would still have the protection under the proposed scheme, among them: the retention of the 86% maximum rate of award for vulnerable households; and the reduction of the maximum rate of award for all non-vulnerable working age to 50%.

·                 In terms of what the timeline was for the proposed consultation, it was advised that the consultation period would be from 5 August 2024 to 27 October 2024.

·                 Clarification as to whether Ward Councillors would be invited to consultative forums with residents was sought, and if these would be held borough-wide.  It was advised that five sessions were currently planned across Harrow, and more would be added if necessary.  Ward Councillors would be invited to attend the sessions.  All Councillors would be informed of dates and venues and were welcome to attend.

·                 It was questioned how Harrow compared with other boroughs in providing CTS to residents.  It was advised that, previously, Harrow’s support scheme was not as generous as other boroughs.  However, this had now changed.  Since 2019, Harrow had had a more generous support scheme than comparator boroughs, including some in firmer financial positions.  Moreover, overall, CTS costs were being impacted by the migration of claimants to Universal Credit by the Department of Work and Pensions as the scheme adopted in 2019 was much more generous to Claimants on Universal Credit.

·                 The Sub-Committee were informed that the current working age scheme was split between those in receipt of Universal Credit and those not in receipt of Universal Credit.  As the managed migration of Universal Credit would be completed by December 2025, the revised CTS scheme would be implemented from April 2025.  While the type of changes would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.