Council Tax Rebate for those on Guaranteed Pension Credit

woodbine said:

Checked our council website and they will only allow bank details via their website when they get round to those who don't pay by DD as they say any other method won't bed secure.
Re SMI loan take up your figures are out of date, but never mind.

So glad that your council is taking action to ensure that the info supplied by the claimant can and will be verified by the bank concerned. Filling out a blank DD for £0  and expecting the council to accept it in good faith is really bad policy. Where is the oversight and evidence that the council must carry out to cross check the info supplied with the relevant bank? They should not just accept that the claimant is telling the truth. Look where that has got us with the amount of fraud that was carried out on the money handed over during the lockdown - very little evidence was asked for - money was flying out of the window for all. Now they are trying to recover it.

woodbine said:

As I understand it, those who pay by DD will have the £150 paid to their bank account sometime this summer, once this is underway those who don't have a DD set up will be directed to a webpage where they can safely and securely provide details of the bank account they want the rebate to be paid into.
If you fall into the second category you can decide to claim or not to claim.

Absolutely and that relates to all GPC claimants who must claim as they have no CT liability and hence no requirement to set up a DD.
For that sector the government has been made aware that at least 20% will not make a claim for whatever reason. Their £150 is likely to then be credited to a non existing liable CT account. 
I wonder what processes are in place to refund that CT overpayment without making a claim for it.

calcotti said:

racyguy said:

Saddened that for this category of persons neither the government or the councils' seemingly don't want to be proactive with people who don't make a claim when asked to do so.

There is no evidence to support that assumption. Most local authorities are just setting up the processes to get the £150 to those with DDs set up. We don’t yet know what processes they will use to advertise the scheme or to contact people. (I dare say some local authorities will make more effort than others.)

There isn’t really a role for government in this. Local authorities know who is liable but has not been paid the £150 through DD, government don’t.

Yes the LA will know who is entitled but the question I ask is for that 20% that don't make a claim and other than credit it to non existent CT account what do you think they should do to get this money to them. Or should we just shrug our shoulders and say tough luck. 

MarkM88 said:

racyguy said:

MarkM88 said:

I think lots of places are well ahead though. My LA have completed paying people who pay by DD and have set a deadline of 10 June to apply for the £150. 

After that it’s credited to CT account. 

That doesn’t mean people will lose out because even if they have no liability and it’s set as £0, it would show a credit of £150 and you can still ask for it to be paid. 

I agree, but it will be almost a certainty that if they haven't claimed it in the first plce and it is put as a credit in the CT account do you really think that they will claim it then?

Yes why wouldn’t they? 

Without suggesting that you appear to be naïve, it is accepted by the government that a proportion of claimants will not make any claims for financial help.
Here are copies of two articles that examines the position. 

The stigma around benefits and the perceived hassle of applying means an estimated half a million people missed out on claiming Universal Credit at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, research has found.

Between 430,000 and 560,000 people were eligible for the benefit but instead lived with the financial struggles brought about by the impact of coronavirus restrictions on businesses and jobs, according to a new report funded by the Health Foundation and led by the University of Salford.

The report, Should social security reach further?, found that around 220,000 people did not want to claim, with nearly 60 per cent believing there is too much hassle involved with universal credit and 27 per cent put off by the benefits stigma. More than one-fifth thought others needed the support more than them.

·         Lynsey Barber

·         11:07, 20 May 2022

·         Updated: 15:22, 20 May 2022

MILLIONS of people are missing out on cash that could boost their income during the cost of living crisis.

An estimated £13billion worth of benefits are not being claimed each year.

Over five million people are thought to be missing out on the cash, according to estimates by EntitledTo.

The biggest benefit going unclaimed is council tax support, with nearly three million missing out on £2.7billion between them

It's thought that around half a million families are missing out on just under £1billion in child benefit - though some eligible choose not to claim.

Meanwhile more than half a million pensioners are eligible for extra top ups to their state pension if they are on a low income.

Pension Credit worth £1.47billion is going unclaimed and individuals could get thousands of pounds a year with this benefit.

The estimates by EntitledTo are based on the government's most recent data available and it's own calculations.

Years ago the Pension Service decided that they needed to get these 'non claimants' into the Pension Credit system

They obtained details from HMRC of potential claimants as a pilot scheme with the PS actually making awards based on the info supplied by HMRC. The recipients of these awards were more than delighted. This went on for 6 months in the hope that at the end of that period they would all put in a claim in order that the awards would continue. In fact it was the opposite - only a handful did so to make a claim the rest just didn't bother. 

woodbine said:

The only option to means tested benefits are universal benefits, so the question is why should we give any benefit to someone who doesn't need it?

Without having a go at any individuals I find it difficult to comprehend that some people have no problem becoming keyboard warriors but can't claim benefits they are entitled to, especially when there is help available.

I personally had a complex benefits problem during the first lockdown but managed quite easily to get excellent advice from welfare rights by telephone, so I would urge anyone having problems making any claim to seek out the help that is out there.

I agree but in the middle there is nothing. In other words it's either universal or means tested.
Maybe then you can answer why people find it impossible to claim all of those benefits? Help? on the telephone if you are lucky - but face to face help in your own home as it used to be no longer exists.
You suggest that it is easy - in my shoes it's not.