Council tax poverty is on the increase in Dorset.
There are now thousands of households which have to pay more than 10% of net income in council tax.
This year, for some, council tax bills will reach £90 each week – over £4,500 a year out of taxed income!
In the House of Commons, I asked Michael Gove, the Minister responsible, how he believed it to be either compassionate or Conservative to be increasing council tax poverty in Dorset.
I also linked the problem to his failure to reform the grant funding system.
The response from Michael Gove was totally unsympathetic.
He said that he actually felt sorrier for people in other parts of the country because ‘the relatively wealthy and the relatively older in our country already have it relatively better’.
In fairness to the Minister, he eventually agreed to meet me just before Christmas to discuss my demand that he apologise and he listened to the case for Dorset.
He has agreed to look into the fact that a 5% increase impacts more heavily on those who already have some of the highest bills in the country, as we do in Dorset.
I asked why the Government doesn’t adopt the same approach as it does for precepts for fire and police services where maximum increases across the country are calculated as a fixed sum per Band and not by percentage. Another point which he agreed to consider was my assessment that council tax is now, effectively, a proxy wealth tax which hits hardest those who are asset rich but income poor.
It is because of this that so many households are using their savings as income so as to fund their council tax. This problem is made worse by the Government’s refusal to increase the means test threshold for capital savings beyond £16,000, the level set in 2006.

That threshold would now be over £25,000 if it had increased in line with CPI inflation.
The consequence is that anyone with modest savings in excess of £16,000 has to pay their council tax bill in full.
I look forward to receiving Michael Gove’s considered response to these points.

An announcement is expected this month on exactly how park home residents and others who are living in properties off the energy grid will be able to access their £400 energy support package.
Not only has this been much delayed, but the payments will not be made automatically.
This means that those eligible will be required to make an individual claim through a government website.
That claim will then be implemented by the local council.
If any residents need further information or help on this, please contact me at chopec@parliament.uk.