Council Plans to Keep Council Tax Support at Maximum 90% – But the System Is Still Failing Thousands...
- teessidetoday
- Nov 18
- 3 min read
Plans to keep the controversial Council Tax support system which replaced council tax benefit back in 2013 will be discussed at a council Finance Committee, with plans to hold the maximum support at 90%.
18th November 2025
Hartlepool Borough Council looks set to keep its Controversial Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) scheme at its maximum 90% reduction level for working-age claimants going into 2026/27, leaving some of the towns lowest income households having to find around £163.00 a year as a shortfall..
According to reports seen by the Teesside & Durham Post which are set to be presented to councillors at a Finance Committee next week, The Council says the LCTS system, which was revised in April 2024, has “not experienced any significant issues.” Because of this, and because working-age claimants need “stability,” the proposal is to leave the scheme unchanged next year, apart from a routine inflationary uplift.
A System Dependent on Attachment of Benefits — Even When the Maths Doesn’t Work
However, councillors will be told that the number of claimants falling into arrears with their council tax is steadily increasing, where its claimed 6,590 council tax accounts in Hartlepool now have whats known as an Attachment of Benefits (AOB) in place — meaning the Council is clawing back council tax debt directly from people’s welfare benefits through the DWP, revealing that even with a 90% discount scheme in place, many locals are struggling to meet the ever increasing shortfall.
Its claimed a further 6,775 liability orders are sitting at the “pending” recovery stage, waiting to be enforced, orders which are usually rubber-stamped in specially convened Council Courts, known to many as 'Kangaroo Courts'....
And as of September 2025, its claimed a staggering £5.29 million in debt is now outstanding solely on council tax accounts using Attachment of Benefits, indicating a system that's 'breaking down' under the sheer numbers of claimants struggling to pay.
The Maximum the Council Can Take Is Nowhere Near Enough
The current maximum AOB deduction is:
£31.41 per month for a couple (both over 25)
£15.85 per month for a single person under 25
And only one deduction can be active at a time.
Even in the best-case scenario, Hartlepool Borough Council admits an attachment cannot be set up until at least three months into the financial year, leaving just nine months to recover anything, leaving the maximum collected from a couple in the first year: £282.69
The Council acknowledges it openly stating that: in many cases the debt simply rolls over into the next year, mounting up without ever being fully cleared, vindicating those who've vocally criticised the scheme as being of such that it plunges locals into a cycle of debt with the local council that they will likely never escape from.
Hartlepool Has the Highest Council Tax Claimant Rate in England
The report is also set to reveal that Hartlepool Has the highest number of LCTS claimants per adult population in the entire country & ranking 16th highest for pensioners receiving support
The Council frames this as a positive — saying it “reflects our success in encouraging benefit take-up.”
However, it also admits something more worrying:
“It does though raise concerns that there could be people receiving benefits who are not entitled.”
With, the Council itself thinking there may be large-scale inaccuracy or fraud in the system.
The Council insists Council Tax debt recovery is managed “sensitively,” but the reality is that Hartlepool’s poorest families are spending years trapped in a cycle of Kangaroo Court orders, deductions, and arrears — often falling deeper into debt even with a 90% reduction being put in place..
Is Keeping the Scheme at 90% Enough?
Labour will undoubtedly present this decision as a win for Hartlepool’s most vulnerable residents.
But the uncomfortable truths are hard to ignore:
Thousands of locals are stuck in permanent arrears even with the maximum support available.
The Council is relying on benefit deductions that mathematically can’t clear the debt in a single financial year....
Recovery action is snowballing, with over 13,000 households in some stage of enforcement
£5.29 million remains uncollected from those on AOB alone
With Hartlepool having the highest dependency rate on this support in England — a sign of deep structural poverty
A Bigger Conversation Needs to be Made on Council Tax Support..
The Council’s plan to maintain the 90% support rate is better than cutting it — but pretending this alone “protects” vulnerable residents is misleading.
The truth is:
The Council Tax system for low-income families in Hartlepool is fundamentally broken. The debts aren’t reducing. The attachments don’t cover the outstanding balance to be paid quickly. And the poverty driving the demand for support is simply getting worse.
Keeping the scheme at 90% support is not stability.
It’s postponing a crisis.
