Members were reminded that Section 13A 1c of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, provided the Council with additional discretionary powers to enable it to reduce or further reduce the Council Tax liability where statutory discounts, exemptions and reductions were not sufficient.

A recent Valuation Tribunal appeal was upheld on the grounds that the local authority in question did not have a policy in place for dealing with such requests for a discretionary reduction in exceptional circumstances.

The adoption of a discretionary reduction in Council Tax liability policy ensured the Council would also consider requests for assistance from Council Taxpayers who, through no fault of their own, had experienced a crisis or event that had made their property uninhabitable e.g. due to fire or flooding, where they remained liable to pay Council Tax and for which they would have no recourse for compensation nor have recourse to any statutory exemptions or discounts.

The adoption of a discretionary reduction in Council Tax liability policy would also protect the Council against potential legal challenge.

Cllr Aspinell MOVED and Cllr Hirst SECONDED the recommendation in the report and following a full discussion it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that the Council adopts the discretionary reduction in Council Tax liability policy attached as Appendix A to the report.