Calls have been made to act swiftly to pay tens of thousands of the ‘least well off’ council taxpayers yet to receive a £150 rebate. In February the Government announced everyone with homes in council tax bands A to D, will get a £150 payment to counter rocketing energy bills.
Those who pay their council tax bills by direct debit have had the rebate paid but it is estimated that around 30,000 households in Bolton do not pay council tax by direct debit. Last month Bolton Council set up an online claim form on their website and since then thousands more rebates have been processed.
At a full council meeting this week One Kearsley councillor Paul Heslop expressed concerns about the system of payments. He said: “There are nearly one in three households in this borough who do not pay by direct debit and have not yet received their £150 entitlement.
“Unless this council acts swiftly, we may find that the £150 payment due to some of the borough’s least well off, will actually be paid out after the first instalment of £325 payment in July of the latest government initiative which was announced 16 weeks after the original £150 payment was announced.
“The online application for non-direct-debit residents finally appeared on May 28 on the council’s website and both Coun Newall and I have facilitated Kearsley residents in the application for their £150 payment. “However, it is impractical and simply wrong to expect councillors to ensure that the estimated 1,500 households that fall into the non direct debit payers category per ward are claiming their £150 entitlement.”
Council leader Martyn Cox responded by saying the council were making strenuous efforts to pay all those eligible. He said: “The council tax energy rebate must be delivered no later than September 30.
“The council has already distributed the £150 to all eligible residents who pay their council tax by direct debit. That’s about two thirds of of council tax payers.
“On May 27 the council launched on online claim form to allow residents who do not pay by direct debit to claim the £150. On June 9 a further 8,000 payments totally £1.2M were issued to those residents who have completed the online claim form.
“That means 74,000 to date have received more than £11M in financial support. Payment runs will continue to take place every week with the run on June 23 to pick up all eligible claims submitted.
“The council will also be writing to all those residents that are yet to make an online claim and the scheme will continue to be promoted. Support for residents is available at the council’s contact centre or face to face at the one stop shop.
“Residents can also opt to have the rebate paid directly to their council tax account in the event that they don’t have a bank account.”
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