Money
Tax and benefits
Pensioners will face new cut
Pensioners will pay to get more of them claiming council tax rebates, writes Paul Lewis
From October, claimants for pension credit will automatically make a claim for council tax benefit as well.
The form will be filled in by the pension service and passed to the local council.
At present the form is signed and posted by the pensioner.
About half fail to do so and lose out on a tax cut – often to zero.
But the extra cost of thousands of new claims for council tax cuts will be met by cutting backdating of pension credit and council tax benefit from 12 months to three.
Pensions Minister Mike O'Brien said this will cut the amount of information required and speed up claims.
* This article first appeared in the February 2008 edition of Saga Magazine
