A review of people receiving council tax discounts across the borough has generated an estimated £200,000 to go towards providing local services.
Gedling Borough Council reviewed 17,860 council tax accounts receiving a 25% discount for being a single occupier.
They found 638 cases that had received the discount when they shouldn’t have, generating an additional £200,000 in council tax collection.
They carried out credit checks on all council tax accounts receiving the discount and sent letters to anyone with discrepancies on their accounts showing more than one adult associated with the property.
Residents responded either explaining the discrepancy or confirming that the discount should be cancelled with a charge of 100% council tax applied to them. Anyone who did not respond to the letters had their discount removed automatically.
The average property in the borough of Gedling is in council tax band B which, last year, had an annual charge of £1,255.34. With a single person’s discount, this amount is reduced to £313.84. Of the 638 cases where the discount has been removed, the estimated increase in council tax yield is £200,229.92 which will be shared between the borough council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Police and Fire Authority to fund their services.
Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke said: “This is an excellent example of services working together to improve the efficiency of our council tax collection. By investing in this review we’ve increased the amount of council tax we collect which will reflect positively on the services that we all provide.”
