Maya Sall on a reduction in help for low income residents

Anti-poverty campaigners in Barnet say cuts to council support for low income residents will leave many struggling to buy food.

The almost £3million cut to Barnet Council’s council tax support scheme (CTS) came into effect on 1st April. CTS subsidises the council tax bill of the borough’s lowest earners, and the cuts have impacted almost 18,000 households.

Families with two or more children are the most affected, with just over 5,000 households losing monthly support worth £17.61.

“The problem is, a lot of these families are already really struggling to make ends meet,” explains Bob Bevil, campaigning and Advocacy lead at Chipping Barnet Foodbank, “we see them in our food banks, and we know the debt they most pertain is council tax”.

Households receiving Universal Credit must now pay 30% of their council tax bill, despite Citizens Advice Barnet’s recommendation for a full council tax subsidy. The changes make Barnet’s CTS the joint-second least generous in London, after Enfield.

“The council wasn’t starting from a generous position, and these stringent cuts aren’t doing anything to change that,” says Bevil, who warns of the repercussive “downward pressure” of the cuts. “A lack of council tax relief creates a vicious cycle of anxiety, which impacts both physical and mental health.

“Food is the elastic part of a budget – if money is tight, we buy less from the supermarkets. Therefore, with families £20 quid worse off a month, their food security will be directly impacted.”

Barnet Council says the net savings of £1.3m will contribute towards “reducing the future budget gap, ensuring the council can continue to provide essential services”, such as housing and social care.

However, Bevil labels this “a false economy”. According to Citizens Advice Barnet, clients with council tax debt, 39% at risk of eviction, and “the effect of council tax debt on other local government services: increased risk of children going into care, physical and mental health consequences and homelessness means it’s difficult to see how this is a cost-effective initiative.”

A discretionary fund of half-a-million has been reserved for the “most financially vulnerable”, and a further £15,000 has been earmarked for costs incurred on additional resources used when processing and distributing the fund.

Bevil described this as a “victory element” to the council’s changes to CTS, but adds: “It’s a token gesture in the right direction, but it won’t be enough.”

As an example of the wider situation, the Colindale Community Trust told Barnet Post that an average of eight people a week struggling to pay their council tax debt, many of whom are working, have other debts, and/or rely on foodbanks.

A spokesperson for Barnet Council told the Post: “Our commissioned prevention services, delivered by partners in the VCS (Barnet CAB, Age UK, Barnet Mencap), work with residents to support them to ensure they receive all benefits they are entitled to. We also have a dedicated Later Life Planning service, provided by Age UK, which supports older people to plan ahead for old age.

“In Children’s Services we have Section 17 monies [this refers to financial assistance provided by local authorities to children and their families who are considered ‘in need’ under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, aiming to safeguard and promote their welfare.] which we use to support families who are suffering extreme hardship.”

They added: “We also signpost residents to the financial calculator so they can claim benefits they are eligible to but have not claimed.”

The council specified that “[debt collection] enforcement agents are only ever used as a last resort, and where there is no other means of recovery and we have been unable to enter into a suitable payment arrangement”.

Zahra Beg, cabinet member for equalities and the voluntary and community sector, said: “The service providers in this field for the council – Equita and CDER – have committed to follow the Civil Enforcement Association’s code of practice that states that residents are signposted to debt advice throughout the entire collection lifecycle.

“Cllr Simon Radford [cabinet member for finance] and officers are engaging with the service providers to ascertain how well this and other parts of the code, aimed at protecting vulnerable residents, are being achieved.”

Going forward, Bevil believes that the council could increase its support to those at risk of or experiencing council tax debt by getting workers on-site at local, public facing organisations such as Chipping Barnet Foodbank. Responding to this idea, a council spokesperson said: “The right support for individuals would be Citizens Advice Bureau. The council does not have debt experts; however, we have partnered with the Money Adviser Network, in order to refer residents to them and their debt advisors.

“So far, we have referred over 120 people to them as well as 77 at outreach sessions. In addition, residents have used the financial calculator to identify £12m of benefits for which they are eligible but were not claiming.”

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