A scheme that reduces the amount of Council Tax paid by the most vulnerable people in South Lakeland will continue in 2017/18.

A meeting of South Lakeland District Council’s (SLDC’s) Full Council last night (15 December) confirmed the continuation of the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme that that has been in place since 2013.

The scheme continues to offer up to 100% reduction for all eligible residents, supporting people on benefits or low incomes. Last year it helped 5,208 households in South Lakeland, with just over half of recipients being pensioners.

The combined reductions under the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme were worth £4.9 million in 2016/17.

The scheme was introduced as a replacement for the national Council Tax Benefit Scheme, which was abolished in 2013. The old national scheme was paid for by a 100% grant from central government, but this was reduced to 90% when responsibility for the grant was passed to local authorities.

SLDC has met this 10% grant reduction to be able to continue offering the benefits from the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme by making a number of adjustments to its Council Tax discounts.

This has included reducing the Council Tax discount on second homes from 10% to 0%, introducing a 100% Council Tax on properties left unoccupied for more than six months and introducing a 50% Council Tax premium on properties left empty for more than two years.

The extra income generated from these changes has been used to offset the 10% government grant reduction.

The 50% premium on empty properties has also had the added benefit of encouraging owners to bring long-term empty properties back into use and has led to an overall reduction in the number of homes in the district that remain vacant for long periods.

Councillor Graham Vincent, SLDC’s economy portfolio holder, said: “We are pleased to be able to continue to maintain the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

“We are not required to make up the funding shortfall. This is something that SLDC has chosen to do, we have made changes to our Council Tax discounts in order to continue to offer the maximum support we can to our most vulnerable residents.

“These reductions were worth nearly £5 million last year and can really make a difference to thousands of pensioners or people on low incomes.’’