Council Tax Reduction Scheme extended

Around 300,000 households in Wales will continue be protected from council tax rises thanks to a Plaid Cymru campaign. The Welsh Government has confirmed today that it would be extending the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for another year.

Responsibility for Council Tax Benefit (CTB) was devolved to the Welsh Government from Westminster in March 2012 but with a 10 per cent cut in the funding. The Labour Welsh Government had initially refused to step in and make up the £23 million shortfall.

Former Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Rhodri Glyn Thomas went on to win ITV’s ‘Campaigner of the Year’ Award after a 9-month-long campaign to force the Labour government into a U-turn in order to protect recipients. His work led to Assembly Members being recalled to the Senedd over the Christmas recess to pass urgent legislation bringing in what is now known as the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

Plaid Cymru Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Local Government Sian Gwenllian welcomed the extension of the scheme, saying:

“Thanks to Plaid Cymru’s campaign to introduce the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, around 300,000 households continue to be protected from a rise in council tax. Rhodri Glyn Thomas fought a long campaign to protect these people and I’m glad that the benefit of his hard work is still being felt four years on.

“The council tax system is unfair, and should be reformed across the board to make it fairer for all. At the moment recipients of the reduction scheme are forced to wait year on year to hear whether the support will continue. We need a better system.

“Plaid Cymru wants to reform council tax and lower bills for almost three-quarters of Welsh homes. The council tax system is currently grossly unfair; we need a better system.”