Lord Best Calls for Council Tax Rise for Single People

Single-person households would pay more council tax to spare millions of working age people from having their benefit slashed under proposals from Lord Best. The government plans to scrap council tax benefit from April 2013 and replace it with a grant that covers only 90 per cent of the cost.  Working-age claimants face much higher cuts than pensioners who are untouched by the reform. Landlords have raised concerns this could lead to tenants struggling to pay their rent.  Lord Best is seeking cross-party support to amend the Local Government Finance Bill in the autumn to allow councils to reduce the 25 per cent council tax discount for single-person households. He believes this would allow councils to redistribute money from non-benefit claimant council tax payers without having to cut support for low-income households.  Read more on Inside Housing.