Council Urges Ministers To Use HMRC For Pay To Stay

Southwark Council has written to ask the Government to use its own tax office to pick up the bureaucracy that Pay to Stay will generate. The policy appears to ask local authorities to stump up the administration of means testing council tenants. Those earning over £40,000 in London will be required to pay more council rent. But a £40,000 household income in London is the equivalent of a couple earning the minimum wage and working full time and the council values working households as they help create vibrant and sustainable communities. The immense extra administration that authorities could be required to undertake would be costly, time consuming and in direct contradiction to the Government’s own guidance in the New Burdens Doctrine. Read more on the Southwark Council website.