Proposed changes to Lambeth’s Council Tax Support Scheme

Background and the proposal

During the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis, we increased support for many households to offer 100% council tax relief. We have maintained this as long as possible despite our limited resources. However, in recent years we've seen a continued increase in the amount of money we spend on this support. The scheme now costs £28.3 million, an increase of almost £4 million since 2022. 

We are proposing to reduce the maximum level of council tax support back to pre-covid levels, offering up to an 80% reduction in bills. The change would mean that somebody who currently has 100% of their council tax paid by the council and who doesn’t come under a protected category, such as pensioners, or those with a disability, would have to pay 20% of the council tax bill from April 2025.  

The proposed change would not apply to every household that receives council tax support

We estimate that of the 24,000 households receiving council tax support, 16,600 would be unaffected by this change due to being in a protected group.  

Approximately 30% of households eligible for council tax support would need to pay at least 20% of their council tax bill. 

Pensioners and some working-age people would be exempt

The scheme currently provides statutory protection to approximately 8,300 pensioners, whose eligibility is determined by the national scheme. These people would be unaffected by any change to the Council Tax Support Scheme. 

We are also proposing discretionary protection from the change for disabled applicants, carers, families affected by the overall benefit cap, war widows and widowers.

Since 2018, those leaving care have been exempted from paying council tax until they are 25 years old, this would continue to apply.

Lambeth will also maintain our extra support for people in crisis, including our discretionary council tax support hardship scheme . 

Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for further assistance.

Why we’re proposing this change 

We are committed to providing the best possible financial support to our most vulnerable residents. However, we need to make significant savings due to reductions in the amount of money we have to spend and rising need for our services. Unprecedented demand for services including temporary accommodation means we need to save £69 million over the next four years.  

The proposed change to the Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme is one of several cost savings and revenue raising measures we are considering to reduce this significant budget gap.  

Share your views

We would like your views on these proposed changes to our council tax support scheme.  

After the consultation ends

All the comments and suggestions we receive will be analysed and considered to enable us to reach a decision about how the council tax support scheme should work from 1 April 2025.  

The findings of the consultation will be presented to Lambeth Councillors where final decisions will be made. They will help us design a new scheme that takes into consideration the views of all those who respond to this consultation.  

We will produce a consultation report which we can send to you, once complete, if you provide us with your email address when submitting your comments.  

We will make a final decision before 28 February 2025 and our new scheme will be introduced on 1 April 2025.