CARMARTHENSHIRE’S leader has welcomed the Welsh Government decision to provide extra funding to protect 19,000 of the county’s poorest households from proposed cuts to Council Tax Benefit when it is replaced in April by a new all-Wales Council Tax Reduction scheme.
The Welsh Government has acted to plug the £22 million gap in Wales for the coming year which was created by the Westminster Government’s decision to cut the level of funding it will provide.
Without this extra funding, households that had previously received 100 per cent Council Tax Benefit would have had to pay at least 10 per cent of their bill from this April, and those currently receiving partial Council Tax Benefit would have faced a similar increase in the amount they pay.
The county’s director of resources Roger Jones told yesterday’s meeting of the full council: “Those in Carmarthenshire who depend on council tax reduction benefit can now get a 100 per cent reduction if their circumstances allow.”
The county council unanimously approved the county’s council tax reduction scheme after the recommendation was proposed by council leader Cllr Kevin Madge and seconded by Plaid Cymru group leader Cllr Peter Hughes Griffiths.
Cllr Madge said: “It means that 19,000 of our poorest people will not now have to pay this 10 per cent. With this weather people are telling me it’s heat or food. I know everyone has been worried about this.”
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