Six-month wait for council tax rebates blamed on ‘red tape’

FAMILIES will have to wait for up to six months for their £150 council tax rebates after local authorities failed to prepare and missed government deadlines.

Just a fraction of councils have credited taxpayers with the handout, designed to help some 28 million pay for soaring energy bills. This was despite assurances the “vast majority” would receive support this month.

Many said residents would not receive payments until late May or even September in some cases. This is because they needed to implement new software to facilitate payments.

Families now face a lottery on when they will receive the cash.

Each authority is rolling out the handouts differently – with some waiting on systems upgrades or on outsourced firms to complete audits of taxpayer records.

Doncaster and Melton were among a limited number of English councils to have issued payments.

Others such as Trafford, Southendon-Sea and the City of York will pay those who pay their council tax via direct debit by the end of the month.

Hastings Council has said payments will not be made until the end of May.

North Tyneside council described the rebate scheme as a “significant challenge” and said it hoped to make payments in May. However, it warned some may be delayed and Whitehall had allowed the scheme to run until the end of September.

Colchester said it would make payments from next month but warned some residents will have to wait until September. A spokesman for the authority said its software’s primary function was “collecting money, not giving it out”.

Danielle Boxall of the Taxpayers’ Alliance reform group accused councils of “unnecessary bureaucratic busywork’’.

A government spokesman said “many councils” had started issuing the rebates and expected “the rest to begin payments shortly”.