Gower AM welcomes continued Council Tax Reduction Scheme

Gower's Assembly Member, Rebecca Evans AM, has welcomed a commitment by the Welsh Government to continue its Council Tax Reduction Scheme in 2018-19.
 
Last year, a result of the scheme, almost 300,000 vulnerable and low income households in Wales received a reduction in their council tax. Of these, 220,000 households paid no council tax at all.  
 
Cabinet Secretary for Local Government, Mark Drakeford, said: “Despite the UK Government cutting our funding for the scheme by 10%, the Welsh Government has worked with local authorities to secure reductions in council tax for vulnerable and low income households. This has been supported by the £244m we have provided through our local government settlement each year."
 
Rebecca Evans AM, Assembly Member for Gower said: “The Welsh Government doesn't have to do this. It is making a deliberate and positive choice to support and assist people living in vulnerable and low income households who are struggling to make ends meet, and I welcome that approach.
 
"Across the border it's a different story. Low-income families in England are now paying on average £191 a year more in council tax than they would have if the UK Government hadn't made the choices that it has made there."