Annex A

Council Tax Energy Rebate Discretionary Scheme.

Background

1. The government recognised that billing authorities may wish to provide support to other energy bill payers who are not eligible under the terms of the Council Tax Energy Rebate core scheme. It has therefore provided City of York Council with a £250k Discretionary Fund.

2. The council can determine locally how best to make use of this funding to provide payments to other households who are energy bill payers but not covered by the Council Energy Tax Rebate.

3. This includes households living in property valued in bands E – H that are on income related benefits or those where the energy bills payers are not liable for council tax. Discretionary support will not be offered to occupants of property in exemption class O, where the Ministry of Defence will provide cost of living support, or class M student halls of residence or if the property is not the claimant’s main home

4. Support from the Discretionary Fund does not have to be provided in relation to the position on 1 April 2022 (as in the core scheme), but we will not provide support to any household that has already received a payment under the core Council Tax Energy Rebate scheme.

5. The support from the Discretionary Fund will be no higher than £150 per household. We will always undertake prepayment checks before providing support from the Discretionary Fund.

6. All discretionary funding should be spent by 30 November 2022.

The Scheme

1. The scheme will provide a £150 rebate to all Households in band A – D where:

a. The household is not liable to pay council tax but does have liability for utility bills and the household has not already benefitted through the core scheme.

2. The scheme will provide a £150 rebate to all Households above band A – D where:

i. The household is in receipt of Council Tax Support

ii. The household is in receipt of any other working age income related benefit.

iii. The householder or their partner are in receipt of Pension Credit

iv. A member of the household is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

v.    A member of the household is in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

3. The scheme will provide up to a £150 rebate to Households above band A – D where:

i. The household can prove hardship, has less than £6,000 in savings and has not received any payment from the core scheme.

ii. No Household that has received a £150 energy rebate under the core scheme will be eligible under the discretionary scheme.

iii. No second homes or holiday homes will receive a discretionary payment.

iv. Empty properties will not be eligible.

v. Students in halls of residence (class M) will not be eligible

vi.  MOD properties (class O) will not be eligible

4. The award with be provided through a direct payment to the customers bank account but can be applied to their council tax account if requested.

Review

5. There is no formal right to appeal. The council will operate an internal review process and will accept an applicant’s request for an appeal of its decision. The application will be reconsidered by a senior officer, as soon as practicable and the applicant informed in writing or email of the decision.

Fraud

6.    All payments made through the discretionary scheme will undergo prepayment checks. This will include the use of the Governments Spotlight system for bank account verification and checking for any multiple applications.