Issue - meetings

Consultation on the Removal of Eligible Care Leavers’ Liability for Payment of Council Tax

Meeting: 19/10/2021 - Cabinet (Item 52)

52 Consultation on the Removal of Eligible Care Leavers’ Liability for Payment of Council Tax pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

As detailed in the recommendation.

Minutes:

Councillor Jones introduced the report and explained that care leavers aged 24 or under subject to Council Tax and residing in Wale were usually exempt from Council Tax since regulations were first introduced by Welsh Government from April 2019.

 

            Welsh Government were consulting on proposals to remove the risk of care leavers needing to pay Council Tax in joint and several liability cases in potential circumstances where another person in the household, who was not exempt from Council Tax, failed to pay their Council Tax.

 

            Whilst such cases were not common, to mitigate the risk to care leavers being held jointly and severally liable for the Council Tax bill on their home,  it was proposed that regulations were amended to provide an exemption for care leavers from April 2022.

 

            The additional provisions as set out in the consultation would ensure that care leavers were not personally held liable for Council Tax in circumstances where the care leaver was joint or severally liable for Council Tax as a result of living with a spouse or partner, or in households with more than one adult.

 

            The Chief Officer (Social Services) welcomed the proposals which strengthened the support the authority provided to care leavers.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the policy intentions as set out in the Welsh Government consultation of removing care leavers aged 24 or under from joint and several liability for Council Tax be supported.