Dear Colleague,

Consultation Meeting for the Third Sector on

Birmingham City Council’s proposed Council Tax Support scheme

I am writing to invite you,or a representative of your organisation, to a meeting seeking your views about changes taking place from April 2013 in respect of Council Tax Benefit. The meeting will take place:

AT: The BVSC, 138 Digbeth,Birmingham, West Midlands B5 6DR

ON: Friday 19th October 2012

TIME: 10:30 am to 12:30pm

Currently, people liable to pay council tax, and assessed as needing financial help to do so, are entitled to Council Tax Benefit. This benefit is administered by the Local Authority but funded by the Government.

As part of Welfare Reform, the Government has announced that Council Tax Benefit is to be abolished and replaced from April 2013 by new local financial support schemes, called Council Tax Support. How these schemes are operated will be decided by Local Authorities themselves. The Government has also announced that the amount it pays Local Authorities for their new schemes will be 10% less than it currently pays for Council Tax Benefit. For Birmingham City Council this means a funding gap of £10.9m.

The Council has drawn up a proposed draft Scheme which will change the financial support offered to claimants.

In order to protect the people most in need in the City, some claimants will not be affected by the changes being proposed, and will continue to receive support at the same level as Council Tax Benefit. Those claimants are:

  • Pensioners
  • Claimants or their partner in receipt of war disablement and war widows/widowers pension
  • Claimants with children under 6 in their household
  • Claimants, or their partners or children who have certain disabilities

A copy of the draft scheme and an explanation of the main changes proposed are attached with this letter and can also be found on

I am currently undertaking an extensive consultation with a number of public meetings chaired by an independent facilitator and an opportunity to complete a questionnaire online at:

However, I also believe it to be important to consult with members of voluntary and community organisations in the city as you and your teams work closely with our residents every day. As well as your views on the proposed draft scheme, its impact and ways of mitigating negative impacts, I would like to hear your ideas on other ways we can encourage residents to respond to the consultation. I would also appreciate any publicity you can give to the consultation with the people you work with.

The consultation will last until 2nd December 2012. Following this, a report will be prepared by an independent facilitator.

I will be at the meeting on 19th October to provide an overview of the proposed draft scheme and to answer any questions. The meeting will be independently facilitated by Chris Khamis and we will compile a report on views expressed at the meeting which will also be fed into an overall consultation report that will be considered by the Council’s Cabinet in January.

In order to be able to plan refreshments, I would be grateful if you could confirm who is attending by emailing . However, you will still be welcome at the meeting if you do not email.

I look forward to seeing you on Friday 19th October and to hearing your views.

Yours faithfully

Chris Gibbs

Assistant Director Revenues and Benefits