No reduction to the Council Tax Reduction scheme

Kirklees is currently contemplating reducing the Council Tax subsidy for vulnerable groups to save just over £1million each year. The proposals would see lone parents with young children and people in receipt of a range of Disability benefits and war pensions having to pay around an additional £1.50 to £2.00 per week. To people who are on low incomes already this is not an insignificant amount.

It is important to recognise why the Council is even considering this drastic move. Huge cuts by central government have limited Kirklees ability to properly fund services people expect of their local council. The additional £14million cut Kirklees received last year when  government failed to honour the level of funding we secured from the Council Tax freeze grant was particularly difficult for Kirklees.

Understanding why Kirklees is proposing such cuts is not the same as agreeing with them however. I don't believe our local Council should be in the business of making poor people poorer. Kirklees Council should operate according to a set of values and principles rather than simply being an organisation which manages an ever dwindling amount of resources. We need to find other ways to make the books balance. Always easier said than done but if regard this as acceptable it opens the door to further cuts for this same group of people in future years. The genie would be well and truly out of the bottle. So I am opposing this proposal and I would be disappointed if a Council that is led by the Labour Party somehow found this acceptable.

The Consultation on the proposal runs till October 15th I urge as many people as possible to respond on the link attached https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=150289138626