Peterborough City Council launches clampdown on misuse of Council Tax discount
Residents to prove they are entitled to discount
A new Council Tax review has been launched by Peterborough City Council as it seeks to clampdown on misuse of a discount scheme.
Checks are being carried out on residents who receive the 25 per cent single person discount on their Council Tax.
The local authority is concerned that not all claimants are eligible to receive the Single Person Discount.
It is in the process of verifying all accounts currently in receipt of Single Person Discount and where necessary is issuing letters to residents, asking them to confirm their current circumstances.
It comes as the cash-strapped council seeks to balance its budget and has warned a lack of cash means it is unlikely to be able to go on providing all its current services.
The local authority is facing an £11 million overspend in the current financial year and a predicted budget gap in 2025/26 of between £13 million and £24 million.
Councillor Mohammed Jamil, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and corporate governance at Peterborough City Council, said: "We are undertaking this review to ensure that households who are not eligible for single person discount are paying the full amount.
"Larger households need to pay more as they use more council services, which costs the council more money.
"It's not fair that taxpayers who pay the correct amount of council tax are receiving a lesser service, because others are knowingly, or unknowingly paying less than they should."
A council spokesperson added: “It is important that we ensure that the large number of single person discounts are being correctly awarded and that there are no cases where the discount is being claimed incorrectly, knowingly or otherwise.
“This review exercise will enable us to correct awards, via customers volunteering updated information regarding occupancy.
"It will also allow us to investigate further into cases where we have reason to believe there may not be eligibility to the discount.
Under current legislation, the council can cancel discounts and can also recover backdated and unpaid Council Tax.
Anyone found to have knowingly defrauded the system may also face prosecution.
All responses to the review will be handled by a centrally based local government scanning facility in Nottingham.