THE massive cut in Council Tax relief for jobless householders implemented by Harlow Council last year is a measure that affects five times as many people in Harlow as the Bedroom Tax, according to local campaign group Harlow Council Tax Benefit Rebels.

Council Tax Benefit was the most widely claimed social security benefit in the United Kingdom. It was available to pensioners, low-paid workers, and those of working age without employment.

Council Tax Benefit was abolished by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, with effect from April 2013. The government instructed every District Council and Unitary Authority to devise a Localised Council Tax Support scheme to replace Council Tax Benefit. However, these schemes would receive only 90 per cent funding from central government. It was left to local authorities to decide how to make up the missing 10 per cent (with the sole requirement that pensioners were to be exempted from any cuts).

A report by the Resolution Foundation found that 28 per cent of local authorities in England had chosen to absorb central government cuts in Council Tax Support, rather than demand payment from those not in employment. (This was not an issue for local authorities in Wales and Scotland, because the devolved governments in those countries decided to make up the cut in funding from the government in London). Thus it is that jobless householders who live in areas such as Harrogate or Bristol continue to receive 100 per cent Council Tax relief. The level of cuts in out-of-work benefits is now dependent upon where a person lives.

Government guidelines suggested that local authorities should charge jobless householders no more than 8.5 per cent of their council tax liability. Labour-controlled Harlow Council charges 24 per cent, a proportion greater than that demanded by neighbouring local authorities. East Herts Council charges 8.5 per cent, Uttlesford 12.5 per cent, Epping Forest 20 per cent and Broxbourne 20 per cent (while also continuing to exempt the sick and those with disabilities). These are all Conservative-ruled councils.

Single unemployed people under the age of 25 receive £57.35 per week in Jobseekers Allowance. Unemployed householders living in Band A homes in Harlow are expected to pay £3.59 per week in Council Tax, and those living in Band C homes are expected to pay £4.79 per week. In other words, Harlow Council is demanding between 6.3 per cent and 8.4 per cent of the weekly benefit of young single unemployed householders.

Jobseekers Allowance for a single person over 24 is £72.40 per week. For single unemployed householders over the age of 24 living in Band A, B, or C accommodation in Harlow, the loss of benefit is between 5.0 per cent and 6.6 per cent.

Council Tax Benefit was available to unemployed workers with savings less than £16,000. Under Harlow Council’s Localised Council Tax Support scheme, this limit was reduced to £6,000. A worker resident in Harlow who becomes unemployed and happens to have savings of more than £6,000 is now expected to pay 100 per cent Council Tax. In other words, Harlow Council decided to impose a cut of between 24 per cent and 100 per cent in Council Tax relief for jobless householders, of which there are more than 3,500 in Harlow.

Figures released under Freedom of Information requests submitted by a supporter of Harlow Council Tax Benefit Rebels indicated that more than one third of jobless householders in Harlow defaulted on their Council Tax bills in the financial year 2013-14. Approximately one thousand of the poorest householders in the town were issued with court summonses for non-payment of Council Tax – including those with disabilities, the sick, and the terminally ill – and Harlow Council is now deducting £3.65 per week from their social security benefits.

“All the signs are that the rate of default for the financial year 2014-15 is similar to that for last year,” claimed Harlow Council Tax Benefit Rebels spokesperson Wat Tyler. “Harlow’s present Localised Council Tax Support scheme has failed, is failing, and will continue to fail. Harlow Council would demonstrate both political and moral bankruptcy were it to continue to rely on obtaining court orders to steal Council Tax from the benefit of the jobless, and sending bailiffs to seize their property. Harlow Council’s current Localised Council Tax Support Scheme is fundamentally unjust in that it contradicts the principle of progressive taxation, that those most able to pay should bear the greatest burden.”

Harlow Council Tax Benefit Rebels was formed by jobless tenants and owner-occupiers to campaign against the 24 per cent cut in Council Tax relief for jobless householders introduced by Harlow Council last year. It demands the restoration of 100 per cent Council Tax relief for those householders dependent upon out-work benefits, including restoration of the £16,000 savings limit.