Council Tax Reduction Consultation

Appendix B

Headline Results. 2

Methodology. 3

Option 1 - Reducing the maximum level of support for working age applicants from 87% to 80%.. 4

Option 2 Removing the Family Premium for all new working age applicants. 6

Option 3 Reducing backdating to one month.. 8

Option 4 using a set income for self-employed earners after one year�s self-employment. 10

Option 5 Reducing the period for which a person can be absent from Great Britain and still receive Council Tax Reduction to four weeks. 12

Option 6 Reduce the capital limit from the existing �16,000 to �6,000. 14

Option 7 To introduce a standard level of non-dependant deduction of �10 for all claimants who have non dependants resident with them... 16

Option 8 To take any Child Maintenance paid to a claimant or partner into account in full in the calculation of Council Tax Reduction.. 18

Option 9 To restrict the maximum level of Council Tax Reduction payable to the equivalent of a Band D charge. 20

Option 10 To remove Second Adult Reduction from the scheme. 22

Option 11 To remove the Work Related Activity component in the calculation of Council Tax Reduction.. 24

Option 12 To limit the number of dependant children within the calculation for Council Tax Reduction to a maximum of two.. 26

Option 13 To introduce a scheme, in addition to Council Tax Reduction, to help applicants suffering exceptional hardship. 28

Ranking the Options. 30

Survey Demographics and Applied Weighting.. 31

Appendix A � Unweighted Results. 32

Headline Results

	% Agreeing with Option	Rank of Preferable Option[1]
Option 1 -� Reducing the maximum level of support for working age applicants from 87% to 80%	60.7%	8.38
Option 2 - Removing the Family Premium for all new working age applicants	50%	6.55
Option 3 - Reducing backdating to one month	75.0%	8.77
Option 4 - Using a set income for self-employed earners after one year's self-employment	51%	6.08
Option 5 - Reducing the period for which a person can be absent from Great Britain and still receive Council Tax Reduction to four weeks	83%	9.25
Option 6 - Reducing the capital limit from the existing �16,000 to �6,000	60.6%	7.34
Option 7 - Introducing �a standard level of non-dependant deduction of �10 for all claimants who have non dependants resident with them	71%	6.86
Option 8 - Taking any Child Maintenance paid to a claimant or partner into account in full in the calculation of Council Tax Reduction	54%	6.56
Option 9 - Restricting the maximum level of Council Tax Reduction payable to the equivalent of a Band D charge	57%	6.50
Option 10 - Removing Second Adult Reduction from the scheme	61.3%	6.53
Option 11 - Removing the work related activity component in the calculation of Council Tax Reduction	58%	5.30
Option 12 - Limiting the number of dependent children within the calculation for Council Tax Reduction to a maximum of two	73%	7.58
Option 13 - Introducing a scheme, in addition to Council Tax Reduction, to help applicants suffering exceptional hardship	74.8%	7.71

Methodology

Maidstone Borough Council undertook a consultation on its proposed changes to council tax reduction between 1 July and 24 August 2016. A copy of the survey is available at Appendix B.

The survey was carried out online, with a direct email to approximately 9,000 Council Tax payees who had signed up for e-billing and was promoted on the Council�s website, social media and in the local newspaper. Paper copies were available in the Gateway and on request. An additional 150 paper surveys were sent via direct mail to residents aged 75 years and over (who are less likely to engage with us online), and a reminder email was sent to 230 payees aged 18 to 24 years to boost the responses from these groups.

The survey was open to all Maidstone borough residents aged 18 years and over (i.e. people who pay council tax or receive council tax reduction. Data has been weighted according to the known population profile to counteract non-response bias.

A total of 1471 people responded to the questionnaire. �This report discusses the weighted results; however unweighted results are shown at appendix B for reference. Please note not every respondent answered every question therefore the total number of respondents refers to the number of respondents for the question being discussed not to the survey overall.�

The survey had a low response from respondents aged 18 to 24 so this group was significantly under-represented and whilst the results have been weighted to take into account some of the variation in respondents compared to the borough population, �these results should be treated with caution. Other areas that should be treated with caution due to low number of responses are people from BME backgrounds and Ethnicity: Other respondents, though these will only be weighted if age and sex details were provided and are not weighted as a separate variable. These results are shown in this report, however they are not referred to in the commentary due to the low level of statistical validity.

Option 1 - Reducing the maximum level of support for working age applicants from 87% to 80%��

��

Option 2 Removing the Family Premium for all new working age applicants��

Option 3 Reducing backdating to one month��

Option 4 using a set income for self-employed earners after one year�s self-employment

Option 5 Reducing the period for which a person can be absent from Great Britain and still receive Council Tax Reduction to four weeks

Option 6 Reduce the capital limit from the existing �16,000 to �6,000

Option 7 To introduce a standard level of non-dependant deduction of �10 for all claimants who have non dependants resident with them

Option 8 To take any Child Maintenance paid to a claimant or partner into account in full in the calculation of Council Tax Reduction

Option 9 To restrict the maximum level of Council Tax Reduction payable to the equivalent of a Band D charge

Option 10 To remove Second Adult Reduction from the scheme

��

Option 11 To remove the Work Related Activity component in the calculation of Council Tax Reduction

Option 12 To limit the number of dependant children within the calculation for Council Tax Reduction to a maximum of two

Option 13 To introduce a scheme, in addition to Council Tax Reduction, to help applicants suffering exceptional hardship

Text Box: Overall, three out four respondents are in favour of option 13 � to introduce a scheme, in addition to Council Tax Reduction, to help applicants suffering exceptional hardship.
The 25 to 34 year old group have the lowest levels of agreement at 67%. There is a difference of 17% between the age group with the greatest level of agreement and this group.

Ranking the Options

In addition to asking respondents specifically about each option the questionnaire also asked respondents to rank the options in terms of preference where 1 was the most preferable option and 13 was the least preferred option.� To assess which options were most preferable a weighted average calculation has been used.

The table shows the results of the ranking question compared against the levels of agreement with each option as shown in this report.� �Option 5 was the highest ranked in terms of preferred options, the table shows that this option also had the greatest proportion of respondent agreeing with this as a proposed change to the scheme.

Option 2 had the second greatest proportion of respondents agreeing and came out second most preferable option in the ranking question.

Option 13 had the third greatest proportion of respondents agreeing with this option. However when ranked for preference it dropped to fourth, while option 1 was sixth for levels of agreement but third preferred option.

Option 4 had low levels of agreement and was also came out as low preference, ranked 12^th for both.

	Average	Average ranked	% Agreeing	% Agreeing ranked
Option 5 - Reducing the period for which a person can be absent from Great Britain and still receive Council Tax Reduction to four weeks	9.25	1	83%	1
Option 3 - Reducing backdating to one month	8.77	2	75.0%	2
Option 1 -� Reducing the maximum level of support for working age applicants from 87% to 80%	8.38	3	60.7%	6
Option 13 - Introducing a scheme, in addition to Council Tax Reduction, to help applicants suffering exceptional hardship	7.71	4	74.8%	3
Option 12 - Limiting the number of dependant children within the calculation for Council Tax Reduction to a maximum of two	7.58	5	73%	4
Option 6 - Reducing the capital limit from the existing �16,000 to �6,000	7.34	6	60.6%	7
Option 7 - Introducing a standard level of non-dependant deduction of �10 for all claimants who have non dependants resident with them	6.86	7	71%	5
Option 8 - To take any Child Maintenance paid to a claimant or partner into account in full in the calculation of Council Tax Reduction	6.56	8	54%	11
Option 2 - Removing the Family Premium for all new working age applicants	6.55	9	50%	13
Option 10 - To remove Second Adult Reduction from the scheme	6.53	10	61.3%	8
Option 9 - To restrict the maximum level of Council Tax Reduction payable to the equivalent of a Band D charge	6.50	11	57%	10
Option 4 - Using a set income for self-employed earners after one year's self-employment	6.08	12	51%	12
Option 11 - To remove the work related activity component in the calculation of Council Tax Reduction	5.30	13	58%	9

Survey Demographics and Applied Weighting

	Unweighted[2]		$Text Box: The table to the left shows the profile of the survey respondents in relation to the population of Maidstone. This table shows that people aged 24 years and under and those aged 75 and over are unrepresented. It also shows that those respondents between 35 and 64 years are fractionally over represented. The results in this report have been weighted by age and sex and therefore some of this variance has been accounted for.$ Population
	Count	%	Count	%
Gender (Over 18s 2011 Census)
Men	450	48%	�� 59,049	49%
Women	496	52%	�� 62,410	51%
Age (2011 Census)
18 to 24 years	27	3%	12,001	10%
25 to 34 years	164	17%	19,223	16%
35 to 44 years	194	21%	22,122	18%
45 to 54 years	208	22%	22,152	18%
55 to 64 years	182	19%	19,447	16%
65 to 74 years	114	12%	14,269	12%
75 years and over	52	6%	12,245	10%
Ethnicity (2011 Census 16 years and over)
White groups	870	95%	145,996	94%
BME	50	5%	9,147	6%
Disability (2011 Census all people)
Disability	138	15%	24,505	16%
No Disability	791	85%	130,638	84%
Council Tax Benefit Recipient
Receives benefit	371	38%
No CT Benefit	558	57%
Not Sure & N/A	43	4%

Age	Population		Survey		Weighting Applied
Age	Males	%	Males	%	Weighting Applied
18 to 24 years	6,300	5%	7	1%	6.88
25 to 34 years	9,319	8%	62	7%	1.15
35 to 44 years	10,879	9%	88	9%	0.94
45 to 64 years	11,163	9%	94	10%	0.91
55 to 64 years	9,534	8%	95	10%	0.77
65 to 74 years	6,955	6%	79	9%	0.67
75 years and over	4,899	4%	19	2%	1.97
	Females	%	Females	%	Weighting Applied
18 to 24 years	5,701	5%	20	2%	2.18
25 to 34 years	9,904	8%	100	11%	0.76
35 to 44 years	11,243	9%	102	11%	0.84
45 to 64 years	10,989	9%	112	12%	0.75
55 to 64 years	9,913	8%	84	9%	0.90
65 to 74 years	7,314	6%	34	4%	1.64
75 years and over	7,346	6%	32	3%	1.75

Appendix A � Unweighted Results

1. I have read the background information about the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (this question must be answered before continuing).			2. Should the Council continue to fund and operate the Council Tax Reduction Scheme as we do now?
Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count	Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	98.5%	1449	Yes	51.8%	663
No	1.5%	22	No	33.8%	433
*answered question*		1471	Don't know	14.4%	185
*skipped question*		0	*answered question*		1281
			*skipped question*		190

Option 1			Option 2
Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count	Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	59.0%	706	Yes	50.8%	586
No	32.7%	392	No	35.2%	406
Don't know	8.3%	99	Don't know	14.0%	161
*answered question*		1197	*answered question*		1153
*skipped question*		274	*skipped question*		318

Option 3			Option 4
Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count	Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	76.2%	863	Yes	50.2%	557
No	16.4%	186	No	31.7%	351
Don't know	7.3%	83	Don't know	18.1%	201
*answered question*		1132	*answered question*		1109
*skipped question*		339	*skipped question*		362

Option 5			Option 6
Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count	Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	82.0%	908	Yes	58.8%	644
No	10.9%	121	No	33.5%	367
Don't know	7.0%	78	Don't know	7.8%	85
*answered question*		1107	*answered question*		1096
*skipped question*		364	*skipped question*		375

Option 7			Option 8
Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count	Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	70.6%	766	Yes	55.7%	602
No	16.9%	183	No	34.5%	373
Don't know	12.5%	136	Don't know	9.7%	105
*answered question*		1085	*answered question*		1080
*skipped question*		386	*skipped question*		391

Option 9			Option 10
Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count	Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	56.5%	602	Yes	60.2%	641
No	29.0%	309	No	28.1%	299
Don't know	14.5%	154	Don't know	11.7%	124
*answered question*		1065	*answered question*		1064
*skipped question*		406	*skipped question*		407

Option 11			Option 12
Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count	Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	55.9%	591	Yes	74.9%	793
No	16.1%	170	No	17.8%	189
Don't know	28.1%	297	Don't know	7.3%	77
*answered question*		1058	*answered question*		1059
*skipped question*		413	*skipped question*		412

Option 13
Answer Options	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	73.7%	775
No	17.3%	182
Don't know	8.9%	94
*answered question*		1051
*skipped question*		420

30. Thinking about impact on claimants and the impact from the reduction in funding for the Council, say what you think would be most preferable by writing a number from 1 � 13 in the boxes below, where 1 is the option that is most preferable and 13 is the least.
Answer Options	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rating Average	Response Count
Option 1	200	59	28	32	43	35	32	24	34	33	34	38	73	8.31	665
Option 2	16	44	50	45	57	42	59	54	55	71	47	68	36	6.51	644
Option 3	87	105	91	60	42	56	32	46	24	27	24	28	23	8.83	645
Option 4	17	34	27	62	51	48	58	50	62	57	66	42	67	6.21	641
Option 5	86	100	117	59	59	35	37	30	32	24	26	23	9	9.16	637
Option 6	50	69	61	55	53	62	37	35	31	45	47	53	61	7.26	659
Option 7	7	24	42	53	61	80	98	58	73	56	47	33	22	6.75	654
Option 8	26	40	62	53	63	43	54	81	34	43	38	57	75	6.65	669
Option 9	22	31	37	63	62	52	53	57	71	65	59	57	40	6.47	669
Option 10	18	32	43	53	68	49	57	72	69	74	57	42	43	6.49	677
Option 11	5	17	20	29	43	62	56	58	79	86	101	73	72	5.22	701
Option 12	93	65	79	58	45	63	46	37	33	32	40	48	65	7.76	704
Option 13	180	62	46	39	32	40	48	35	25	45	31	57	127	7.53	767
*answered question*															857
*skipped question*															614

31. Do you think we should choose any of the following options rather than the proposed changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme? Please select one answer for each source of funding.
Answer Options	Yes	No	Don't know	Rating Average	Response Count
Increase the level of Council Tax	163	736	66	1.90	965
Find savings from cutting other Council services	378	474	106	1.72	958
Use Council's savings	438	391	122	1.67	951
*answered question*					985
*skipped question*					486

32. If the Council were to choose these other options to make savings, what would be your order of preference? Please rank in order of preference by writing a number from 1 � 3 in the boxes below, where 1 is the option that you would most prefer and 3 is the least.
Answer Options	1	2	3	Rating Average	Response Count
Increase the level of Council Tax	181	121	538	2.43	840
Reduce funding available for other Council services	258	393	195	1.93	846
Use the Council's savings	441	315	142	1.67	898
*answered question*					921
*skipped question*					550

[1] A higher figure indicates option is high preference.

[2] Rounding anomalies mean that these percentages may not add up exactly to 100%

Option 1 - Reducing the maximum level of support for working age applicants from 87% to 80%�������������������������������

Option 2 Removing the Family Premium for all new working age applicants�����

Option 3 Reducing backdating to one month�������������������������������������������

Option 1 - Reducing the maximum level of support for working age applicants from 87% to 80%��

Option 2 Removing the Family Premium for all new working age applicants��

Option 3 Reducing backdating to one month��