Leeds City Council says it is still waiting for information from the government as to how much it can help individuals struggling to pay their council tax bills.
Many will be concerned at how the coronavirus pandemic, and subsequent effect on their employment, will affect their ability to pay bills such as rent and council tax.
The council said it was awaiting instruction from government as to how it can use a £500m fund to help ‘economically vulnerable households’, but claimed it wanted to help people ‘as much as possible’ with their council tax in the meantime.
A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: “As part of the government’s response to the current pandemic, they announced a £500 million fund for local government to provide support to economically vulnerable households.
“The government expects most of this funding to be used to provide more council tax relief, either through existing council tax support schemes or through complementary reliefs.
“We are waiting for the government to publish more information about this scheme so we can begin to implement it. Once we have more information we will share the details of the scheme with the public.
“In the meantime, details of the different options available for paying council tax can be found on the back of an individual’s council tax bill and a dedicated telephone support line is available to discuss these in more detail.”
'We want to be as supportive as possible during these unprecedented times'
The statement the authority added that anyone who was concerned with how they are going to pay their council tax should get in touch with the authority.
It added: “We want to be as supportive as possible during these unprecedented times and encourage council tax payers to get in touch with us if there are any issues which may impact on their ability to pay.
“We will discuss their circumstances and where appropriate agree a payment plan or arrange for other support to be put in place depending on the individual’s needs.”
