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Your weekly update of London local government issues

24 Aug 2022

Council tax rebate: The hurdles some areas face getting money to residents

When the government announced a £150 council tax rebate to every household, to ease the pain of soaring energy and shopping bills, payment seemed like a relatively straightforward task for billing authorities to perform.

But, despite it seeming simple, that is far not always the case. Short notice, the need for new software, staffing shortages, low direct debit take-up and cash constraints are among the hurdles councils said they faced.

Paul Honeyben, strategy director: local government finance and improvement at London Councils, emphasised: "With less than two months’ notice, London boroughs have processed over 1.7m payments through three different methods, delivering more than £257m of support in just three months.

"This is a remarkable achievement for busy revenues and benefits teams across the capital."

But he added: "However, London boroughs face additional challenges in passing on the rebate quickly as they have around 10% fewer eligible account holders registered for direct debit payments, largely due to London's more transient population."

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Londoners are worst affected by soaring inflation 

Research from YouGov published last week found 20 per cent of lower-income Londoners have regularly or occasionally gone without food or essential items or relied on outside support in the last six months. The number of Londoners being hit by the rising cost of living is also going up every month, with nearly a third saying they are ‘just about managing’ and almost one in five ‘financially struggling’.

Those being hit the hardest and most likely to say they are financially struggling are Asian and Black Londoners, those with an income of less than £20,000, renters and Deaf and Disabled Londoners.

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London Mental Health Champions Network

The London Mental Health Champions Network was established to support elected members from across London who want to learn more about how to support their own and their constituent's mental health and wellbeing.

The network, which is run in partnership with Centre for Mental Health, Thrive LDN and London Councils, meets on a quarterly basis and provides a forum for elected members with an interest in public mental health to collaborate and share information and good practice. 

The next meeting will take place online on 4 October, 18:30 – 19:45. If you would like to join the next meeting, please email Thrive LDN ( [email protected] )

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London Councils fights for the best deal for our boroughs, develops policy and lobbies government on the issues
that matter for London. We also run pan-London services like Freedom Pass and Taxicard.
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