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Following a major overhaul by the government to protect families from \u201caggressive\u201d debt collection, millions of Brits are set for a massive council tax boost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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This week, ministers announced a wave of reforms designed to stop vulnerable people from being plunged into financial ruin over a single missed payment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Anyone who misses one month of council tax can be forced to pay their entire annual bill in full just two weeks later, under the current outdated rules.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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However, from next year millions of households will be given roughly two months, or 63 days, to settle their bill before such drastic action is taken, as confirmed by the government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Instead of just jumping straight to aggressive enforcement, councils will also be legally required to work with residents on a sustainable repayment plan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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A long-running campaign by Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis and his Money and Mental Health Policy Institute charity to fix the 33-year-old system preceded the shake-up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cToo many families are facing aggressive enforcement action, with people left terrified of bailiffs knocking on the door because one month\u2019s council tax bill was missed\u201d, Local Government Secretary Steve Reed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe will stop this and make the system fairer by supporting families who fall behind. In another major win, council tax billing will also be shifted to 12-month payments by default, instead of the traditional 10 months\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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To help with monthly budgeting, this will allow struggling families to spread the cost of their tax more thinly across the entire year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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By capping the cost councils can charge for a liability order at \u00a3100, the government is also moving to ban \u201crip-off\u201d administration fees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The move was hailed as a \u201chuge first step\u201d toward fixing a system that was \u201cmore vicious than the banks\u201d, consumer champion Martin Lewis said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cCouncil tax debt collection is so aggressive it\u2019d make banks blush. It\u2019s the most vicious and damaging form of legal debt collection out there \u2013 causing counterproductive misery for millions\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ve spent the last 18 months campaigning hard to change this hideous system, and having seen so much pain caused by it, I\u2019m genuinely moved by this huge first step towards making things better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cCurrently, in England, if you miss a monthly payment, many councils, usually within three weeks, demand payment for the entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cHow people who can\u2019t find a month\u2019s money are expected to find a year\u2019s I don\u2019t know. Yet if they can\u2019t pay, within just three more weeks, they are often taken to court, have \u2018admin costs\u2019 added, and soon see bailiffs sent in\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Meanwhile, Minister for Local Government Alison McGovern said: \u201cWe know the way council tax is run is outdated and confusing and has stopped some of the most vulnerable people from accessing the support they need.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cOur changes will cut through the complexity and make sure that council tax is fit for the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Even though most changes come into effect next year, the government has warned that \u201cproportionate action\u201d will still be taken against those who simply refuse to pay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The five changes to council tax billing, based on the government\u2019s announcement, are the following:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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More time to pay A cap on court costs<\/strong><\/p>\n Councils often add hefty \u201cadmin fees\u201d when taking residents to court over unpaid bills, but these will now be capped at \u00a3100 to prevent debts from spiralling out of control.<\/p>\n 12-month bills by default<\/strong><\/p>\n Most bills are currently split over 10 months, but payments will now be automatically spread over 12 months to make the monthly cost lower and more manageable for families.<\/p>\n Ending the \u201cSMI\u201d stigma Standardised help <\/div>\n #Government #scrap #aggressive #council #tax #rule #major #shakeup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here are the five changes Following a major overhaul by the government to protect families from \u201caggressive\u201d debt collection, millions of Brits are set for a massive council tax boost. This week, ministers announced a wave of reforms designed to stop vulnerable people from being plunged into financial ruin over a single missed payment. Anyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5181,1976,5180,494,1588,2354,1028,1011,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-5000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-aggressive","9":"tag-council","10":"tag-council-tax","11":"tag-government","12":"tag-major","13":"tag-rule","14":"tag-scrap","15":"tag-shakeup","16":"tag-tax"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Instead of being chased for a full year\u2019s debt after just three weeks, you will now have 63 days (roughly two months) to settle a missed payment before councils can demand the entire annual sum.<\/p>\n
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The \u201cSeverely Mentally Impaired\u201d discount is being renamed to \u201cSignificant Cognitive Impairment\u201d to make it less offensive and easier for people with conditions like dementia or Parkinson\u2019s to apply.<\/p>\n
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A single application form will be introduced across all of England for mental impairment discounts, replacing the confusing \u201cpostcode lottery\u201d where every council had different, complex rules..<\/p>\n<\/div>\n