Issue - meetings

Council is asked to agree the local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2023/24.

Cllr Leaver moved and Cllr Caliskan seconded the report of the Executive Director Resources on the Council Tax Support Scheme for 2023/24.

Cllr Leaver introduced the report. It was a manifesto commitment to support the most vulnerable in society, and the Administration had chosen to have a comprehensive Council Tax support scheme which would be equitable and would cover around a third of the borough’s residents. The scheme included the introduction of an earned income banded scheme for households in receipt of Universal Credit. There had been extensive consultation on the scheme, which had also been reviewed by the GLA and Citizens Advice Bureau with a positive response. There would also be a Council Tax hardship fund for the most extreme cases.

The Opposition expressed their concerns that the scheme was not fair or equitable and that it represented a cut to 6,500 households who could least afford it, mostly in the East of the borough. Some residents would be pushed into poverty and the hardship fund was not sufficient.

Following officer advice on the possibility of amending the recommendation by separating various part of it, the Mayor confirmed that this would not be possible.

A recorded vote was requested by Cllr Georgiou, and another 11 members of the Council having stood in support of the request, the report was then agreed following a recorded vote detailed below:

For:

Cllr Abdul Abdullahi

Cllr Josh Abey

Cllr Nicki Adeleke

Cllr Gunes Akbulut

Cllr Mahmut Aksanoglu

Cllr Nawshad Ali

Cllr Kate Anolue

Cllr Mahym Bedekova

Cllr Sinan Boztas

Cllr Nesil Caliskan

Cllr Alev Cazimoglu

Cllr Mustafa Cetinkaya

Cllr Hivran Dalkaya

Cllr Guney Dogan

Cllr Elif Erbil

Cllr Ergin Erbil

Cllr Susan Erbil

Cllr Thomas Fawns

Cllr Margaret Greer

Cllr Ayten Guzel

Cllr Nelly Gyosheva

Cllr Ahmet Hasan

Cllr Suna Hurman

Cllr Chris James

Cllr Rick Jewell

Cllr Tim Leaver

Cllr Gina Needs

Cllr Ahmet Oykener

Cllr Sabri Ozaydin

Cllr Bektas Ozer

Cllr George Savva

Cllr Nia Stevens

Cllr Doug Taylor

Cllr Eylem Yuruk

Against:

Cllr Maria Alexandrou

Cllr Lee Chamberlain

Cllr Chris Dey

Cllr Hannah Dyson

Cllr Peter Fallart

Cllr Reece Fox

Cllr Alessandro Georgiou

Cllr Pat Gregory

Cllr Adrian Grumi

Cllr James Hockney

Cllr Chris Joannides

Cllr Joanne Laban

Cllr Andy Milne

Cllr Elisa Morreale

Cllr Tom O’Halloran

Cllr Paul Pratt

Cllr Michael Rye

Cllr Julian Sampson

Cllr David Skelton

Cllr Jim Steven

Cllr Emma Supple

Cllr Andrew Thorp

AGREED the Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2023/24 as summarised in Appendix A of the report to provide financial support for households on low incomes in paying their Council Tax.