Thousands of low-income households to pay council tax for first time or see huge bill rise as discounts slashed TENS of thousands of households are facing a council tax bill shock as local councils slash vital support.
Emily Whitford, Senior Public Policy Advocate and author of StepChange’s council tax research, Looking through the keyhole, said the debt charity has seen evidence that reducing support has pushed more people into council tax arrears.
"Yet our research, published last year, found that one in five clients who fell behind on council tax payments had their council tax support reduced in the six months prior.
“Council tax has become an increasingly unaffordable burden for many StepChange clients – with council tax arrears now at an average of over £1,900 per client, up by 70% since before the pandemic," she said.
It means that some households will pay council tax for the first time or have discounts cut, pushing vulnerable into further difficulty, experts warn.
