Cabinet backs cutting three support bands by 5 points from April 2027, after 29 people replied to the consultation. Full Council votes on 4 November.

Northumberland’s Cabinet has backed cutting council tax support for three of its five income bands from April 2027. The final say goes to Full Council on Wednesday 4 November.

At an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday 27 October, Cabinet agreed to recommend four changes (Cabinet decisions, 27 October 2026):

  • band 2 support falls from 90% to 85%
  • band 3 support falls from 70% to 65%
  • band 4 support falls from 40% to 35%
  • the housing cost element of Universal Credit is ignored in full for every claimant

Band 1 stays at 100% and band 5 at 20%. The proposal is unchanged from the one put out to consultation in September, which we reported at the time. On the council’s own figures, 8,450 working age households would pay more and 2,393 would pay less.

29 people answered the consultation

The public consultation ran for five weeks to 14 October. It drew 29 responses, according to the report to Cabinet. That is in a county where 14,967 households were eligible for support on 30 September.

Respondents split almost evenly on the cuts themselves.

Proposal Agree Disagree Don’t know
Ignore all of the Universal Credit housing element 55.2% 31.0% 13.8%
Band 2 down from 90% to 85% 48.3% 48.3% 3.5%
Band 3 down from 70% to 65% 48.3% 44.8% 3.5%
Band 4 down from 40% to 35% 48.3% 48.3% 3.5%
Keep band 1 at 100% 75.9% 20.7% 0%
Keep band 5 at 20% 65.5% 24.1% 10.3%

Percentages of 29 respondents, from the council’s report. A few did not answer every question.

The report summarises what people said. Those against the cuts said the 2026 scheme had already raised many bills, and further cuts would cause hardship. One respondent who said they were disabled was struggling on the 40% band this year. Others went the other way: some said everyone should pay a nominal amount, and one would have backed bigger cuts.

Those who disagreed with the housing change said people paying a mortgage rather than rent would lose out, because nothing extra is disregarded for them.

What Citizens Advice asked for, and why it was turned down

Five respondents, including Citizens Advice Northumberland, asked the council to stop counting one part of Universal Credit as income. That is the LCWRA element, paid to people whose health limits their ability to work.

The council says that would cost £3.345 million a year. To pay for it inside the same budget, every band would have to drop sharply:

Band Support now Needed to fund the Citizens Advice request
1 100% 85%
2 90% 60%
3 70% 45%
4 40% 30%
5 20% 15%

The cross-party working group had already ruled it unaffordable on 19 August. The report also notes the government has cut LCWRA for new claimants from April 2026.

Citizens Advice made four other suggestions. The council rejected them on cost or complexity:

  • bring back the childcare cost disregards from the old scheme
  • a flat £25 a week earnings disregard for working households, instead of the current £7.50, £12.50 and £17.50
  • raise the savings limit from £8,000 to £10,000, with a sliding scale from £6,000
  • replace the band “cliff edges” with a taper of 20p for each extra £1 of income, and average fluctuating earnings over three months

The report says a taper would bring back the repeated recalculations and new bills that the banded scheme was designed to stop.

Why the housing change matters

The fourth change fixes a fault found in the first month of the current scheme. People getting Carer’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance were treated differently depending on whether that money came through Universal Credit.

The council reassessed 1,794 households by 30 June. Of those, 1,488 had their council tax bill changed. From April 2027 the whole housing element of Universal Credit is ignored for everyone, which removes the anomaly.

The income bands may still move

Cabinet added one caveat. To keep 100% support for the lowest incomes, the income limits for each band “may need to be amended” after the government’s Budget on Wednesday 28 October, which sets Universal Credit rates for 2027-28. The cuts in support percentages do not depend on that.

The hardship fund, six months in

The £1 million hardship fund set up in January is still barely touched. By 30 September the council had processed 647 claims and made 36 awards worth £16,429 in total. Ten more claims were being assessed. The report puts the low take-up down to the fund’s criteria.

The working group wants unspent money carried into future years. That is a decision for the 2027-28 budget, because the fund is a one-off sum with nothing in the medium-term plan to top it up.

What it means for you

  • Who is affected: working age households getting Council Tax Support in bands 2, 3 or 4. Pension age support is set nationally and does not change. Our earlier report has the weekly income limits for each band.
  • How much: most of the 8,450 households who lose out would pay between £1.01 and £2.00 a week more, before any rise in council tax itself. The largest loss in the council’s table is £3.51 to £4.50 a week, for 13 households.
  • Who gains: the 2,393 households helped by the housing change, most by £3 to £7 a week.
  • When it is decided: Full Council on Wednesday 4 November. The law requires a scheme to be agreed by 31 January 2027.
  • If you are struggling now: you can apply to the hardship fund through the council’s Council Tax Support pages.

How your bill is worked out in the first place is explained in our guide to council tax bands in Northumberland.

Also decided on Tuesday

Cabinet approved up to £820,000 in 2027-28 for the Corbridge Station Link, a safer and more accessible route between the village centre and the railway station. It is paid for entirely from the Consolidated Active Travel Fund. It also approved up to £495,000 this year for three habitat projects on the coast, paid for by developers, to offset the effect of new housing and tourism on protected sites.

Sources