Welcome to the Council Tax Support scheme survey

Council Tax Support helps people on low income to pay their council tax. It is one of a number of support schemes we provide for local people.

Like most support National and Local Government offers, there are criteria people must meet to be able to claim the money. This is to help work out how we best distribute the limited funding that is available.

For Council Tax Support, West Oxfordshire District Council set the criteria for working age residents and Central Government sets the criteria for pension age residents.

When someone applies for Council Tax Support we calculate how much money that resident may be eligible to receive. We do this by looking at:
  • household income, including benefits and pensions
  • personal circumstances
  • any savings you have
  • if your children live with you
  • if other adults live with you

We then follow a standard formula to decide how much support is given to make it fair across all applicants.

We regularly look at the criteria we have the powers to change to try and make sure it helps the right people. This year we are proposing to change the scheme to support more people with the cost of living and provide more support to families with dependent children.

During the cost of living crisis it has also become clear that at times, due to exceptional circumstances, some residents are not able to apply for Council Tax Support in a timely manner and so we want to update our process to help with that.

We would like the view of local residents on our proposed changes. You can do that by answering the questions below and we will listen to resident feedback before we make any final decisions which would come into effect on 1 April 2024. The consultation will run for a period of six weeks, starting 11 September and ending 22 October.

Thank you in advance for your time

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