Full News Report
19th October 2026
Have your say on proposed changes to Council Tax Support
Cornwall Council has to consider each year whether or not
to make changes to any of its Council Tax Reduction schemes.
On Wednesday 14 October the Deputy Leader of Cornwall
Council, Cllr Adam Paynter, agreed to start a consultation to get views on
possible changes to the Council Tax Support scheme for working age people.
NB. The pension age Council Tax Support scheme follows
rules set by Government and will not change.
The consultation will run until 13 December 2026. Any
changes to the scheme would need to be approved by Full Council in January 2027
and, if approved, would come into effect on 1 April 2027.
Why change?
Since 2013 all local authorities are responsible for
their own working age Council Tax Support schemes. The Council Tax Support
scheme for working age adults has not changed since 2013. Given the current
financial pressures, we need to consider reducing the overall cost of the
scheme.
The Council’s current Financial Plan, approved by the
Council in February 2026, set the task of reviewing Council Tax discounts and
support so as to reduce their costs to the Council by £5m from 2027/28.
In Cornwall there are currently around 36,000 households
that receive Council Tax Support. Of those, 19,009 households receive the
working age Council Tax Support scheme.
Currently, a maximum discount of 75% is available and 91% of claimants
(17,218 households) receive this discount.
The overall cost of providing the working age scheme is
£21 million, expected to rise to £22,2 million next year if no changes are
made.
What are we consulting on?
The Council is consulting on options for changing the
current 75% maximum discount available to claimants of working age Council Tax
Support from April 2027 onwards. No decisions have been taken at this point.
The options for consultation range from no change (75%
maximum) to reducing the discount by 5% (70% maximum), 10% (65% maximum), 15%
(60% maximum) or 20% (55% maximum discount).
More information is available on the dedicated
consultation page on Let’s Talk Cornwall https://us.list-manage.com/Ur5fHEE5wi0?e=3420d0621c&c2id=bd14d3b880b5fe43e1419d356152392d
If the level of support were to be reduced, all
households receiving working age Council Tax Support would be impacted. To help
affected households, the Council would work with partner organisations to
provide them with budgeting advice and support.
We are sending emails or letters this week to current
recipients to ask for their feedback about these proposals and will be widely
promoting the consultation through our usual channels.
We would welcome your support in promoting this
consultation to residents locally.
Do these proposals impact on Parish Precepts?
Changes to the scheme will not have a direct impact on
the 2027/28 precept amount which you will soon be in the process of
setting. However, please note that a
reduction in the level of Council Tax Support would have the effect of
increasing the taxbase. This therefore potentially leads to a lower parish
charge to raise that precept amount, than if Council Tax Support remained at
the existing level.
As an example:
2027/28 precept of £100,000 divided by the parish taxbase
of 1,000 = Band D charge of £100
2027/28 precept of £100,000 divided by the parish taxbase
of 1,100 = Band D charge of £90.91
At the current time we are not able to provide you with
calculations for the potential increase of the taxbase for your parish under
these options. As it becomes available, further information will follow in due
course We apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused by this.
Your views
As a precepting organisation, we would also welcome your
views on these proposals.
To submit the views of your council, please use our
consultation questionnaire for precepting organisations (https://us.list-manage.com/d9_i2AcJFC_?e=3420d0621c&c2id=bd14d3b880b5fe43e1419d356152392d)
. The deadline for responses is 13 December 2026.
Please find a reference copy of the questionnaire (https://us.list-manage.com/tPgqayN4GaK?e=3420d0621c&c2id=bd14d3b880b5fe43e1419d356152392d)
.