Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the proposed Care Leavers Council Tax Discretionary Relief Policy. The report explained that other local authorities had introduced measures to assist care leavers with council tax following the recommendations made in the Government’s care leavers strategy, Keep on Caring, which encouraged local authorities to do so.

The report explained that this was an issue that had been raised by the Corporate Parenting Board and had been considered at a joint problem-solving meeting between officers from Children’s Social Care and Housing, chaired by the Chief Legal Officer. There was broad support from a Member and officer perspective that change should be affected to benefit Medway’s care leavers.

The report stated that the Policy would stand alone. It would be reviewed yearly and presented to Cabinet as required. This meant that provision was not affected by changes to Medway’s Council Tax Discretionary Relief Policy. The Policy would also be sustained and operated outside the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS), meaning that care leavers would not be affected by changes to the scheme.

The report provided four options, as set out at section 3 of the report. The preferred option was Option 3. This would empower and encourage the care leaver to apply for appropriate reductions, such as council tax reduction, single person discount or disregards. The Council would subsequently reduce the liability to nil after the statutory reductions were made.

An addendum report, set out in Supplementary Agenda Number 1, provided further clarity in relation to the proposed discretionary council tax relief policy for care leavers. The Cabinet was requested to approve implementation of Option 3, set out in paragraph 3.3 of the main report and to agree adoption of the Policy, as set out in Appendix 1 to the addendum report.

A Diversity Impact Assessment had been carried out on the proposals, as set out in Appendix 2 to the report.

Reasons:

As the corporate parent to care leavers, Medway Council has the responsibility to provide financial support and guidance.