Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Council Tax Reduction Schemes and Prescribed Requirements (Wales) Regulations 2013 (“the Prescribed Requirements Regulations”) and the Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Default Scheme) (Wales) Regulations 2013 (“the Default Scheme Regulations”) made under section 13A(4) and (5) of, and Schedule 1B to, the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

The Prescribed Requirements Regulations require each billing authority in Wales to make a scheme specifying the reductions which are to apply to amounts of council tax payable by persons, or classes of persons, whom the authority considers are in financial need. The Prescribed Requirements Regulations also set out the matters that must be included within such a scheme.

The Default Scheme Regulations set out a scheme that will take effect, in respect of dwellings situated in the area of a billing authority, if the authority fails to make its own scheme.

These Regulations amend both the Prescribed Requirements and the Default Scheme Regulations.

Regulation 3 inserts new categories into the list of persons who are not to be treated as not being in Great Britain for the purpose of the residence criteria set out in regulation 28 of the Prescribed Requirements Regulations. The new categories are persons to whom leave is granted under immigration rules by virtue of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy or the previous scheme for locally-employed staff in Afghanistan (otherwise known as the ex-gratia scheme), persons to whom leave is granted under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, and persons not coming within those schemes, but who arrived in Great Britain from Afghanistan in connection with the fall of the Afghan government that took place on 15 August 2021. The same amendments are made to the Default Scheme Regulations by regulation 12.

The amendments made to the Prescribed Requirements Regulations by regulations 4, 5(b) to (d), 7 and 8 increase certain figures that are used in calculating whether a person is entitled to a reduction, and the amount of that reduction. The uprated figures relate to non-dependant deductions (adjustments made to the maximum amount of reduction a person can receive to take account of adults living in the dwelling who are not dependants of the applicant); and the applicable amount in relation to an application for a reduction (the amount against which an applicant’s income is compared in order to determine the amount of reduction to which the applicant is entitled). Other figures are also uprated to reflect changes over time to various entitlements. The same amendments are made to the Default Scheme Regulations by regulations 13, 15(b) to (d) and 16.

The amendment made by regulation 5(a) replaces the existing table in paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Prescribed Requirements Regulations to remove redundant references to persons under 65. The same amendment is made to the Default Scheme Regulations by regulation 15(a). The effect of these amendments is to extend the higher rate of personal allowance to pensioners.

The amendments made to the Prescribed Requirements Regulations by regulations 6, 9 and 10 provide for how compensation payments made by the Scottish Ministers in relation to cases of historical child abuse are to be taken into account when determining eligibility for a reduction and the amount of a reduction. The same amendments are made to the Default Scheme Regulations by regulations 14, 17 and 18.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from Local Government Finance Reform, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.