Cheney accuses Acorn of misleading public in council tax row

Bristol’s deputy mayor has accused Acorn of “misleading the public” about the administration’s decision to review council tax benefits.

Craig Cheney said the housing union was “misleading the public with incorrect information” about changes to the council tax reduction scheme.

Cheney’s response comes after protesters from Acorn disrupted a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to demand the mayor meet with them and promise to keep the Council Tax Reduction scheme.

Campaigners claimed the administration was trying to scrap the benefit, which is a key lifeline for over 23,000 families in Bristol.

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Read more: Protesters disrupt cabinet meeting over threats to council tax benefit

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Acorn campaigners said the decision would be hypocritical in light of the council’s spending on the Bristol Beacon project and underground spending.

But councillors denied the allegations they were trying to scrap the scheme, and said they were merely reviewing how best to continue the benefit.

A spokesperson explained that the spending comes from separate funding streams from the council’s revenue budget.

In the 2022/23 period, the scheme cost £43.4m, which represents 8.9 per cent of the council’s total annual revenue budget.

Cheney said: “As a Labour administration, we have prioritised supporting low-income households by delivering over £325m of support since 2016 and recently secured £8m of additional funding through the Household Support Fund.

“Bristol is one of the last core cities to offer a fully funded Council Tax Reduction scheme, after the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition abolished Council Tax Benefit in 2013.

“We are proud to do so, but face even more difficult decisions after more than a decade of national austerity.

“During a national cost of living crisis, when many Bristolians remain worried about their finances, it is a matter of real concern that Acorn are misleading people with incorrect information.

“We encourage everyone to review the consultation materials and share their views before 25 September.”

A spokesperson for the council added that “no decision has been made yet on the future design of Bristol’s scheme”.

“We have set out the options to be considered and the nature of next year’s scheme will be a matter for full council later this year, ahead of next year’s Budget meeting.”

The options available are:

• Option 1 – The current Council Tax Reduction scheme is retained (and people are given the opportunity to suggest how instead to find the £3m saving proposed by Full Council)
• Option 2a – All households would pay at least 10 per cent of their Council Tax bills
• Option 2b – All households pay at least 17 per cent of their Council Tax bills
• Option 2c – All households pay at least 20 per cent of their Council Tax bills
• Option 3a – Households receiving certain benefits or payments are protected from paying a minimum amount of Council Tax. All other households pay a minimum of 20 per cent of their Council Tax bills
• Option 3b – Households receiving certain benefits or payments are protected from paying a minimum amount of Council Tax. All other households pay a minimum of 34 per cent of their Council Tax bills
• Option 3c – Households receiving certain benefits or payments are protected from paying a minimum amount of Council Tax. All other households pay a minimum of 41 per cent of their Council Tax bills
• Option 4a – Households who are not in work and have a child under five years old are protected from paying a minimum amount of Council Tax. All other households pay a minimum of 13 per cent of their Council Tax bills
• Option 4b – Households who are not in work and have a child under five years old are protected from paying a minimum amount of Council Tax. All other households pay a minimum of 19 per cent of their Council Tax bills
• Option 4c – Households who are not in work and have a child under five years old are protected from paying a minimum amount of Council Tax. All other households pay a minimum of 25 per cent of their Council Tax bills

A spokesperson for Acorn responded: “We completely reject [Cheney’s accusation]. The current scheme offers a 100 per cent reduction or zero payment for some people, with the consultation proposing a minimum payment.

“Removing the 100 per cent reduction is effectively scrapping the existing scheme and replacing it with a different version.

“The very first option on the consultation ‘The current Council Tax Reduction scheme is retained’ recognises this, with all other options necessarily meaning that the current scheme is scrapped.

“Once you remove something so fundamental as zero payment you can’t call it the same scheme and for councillor Cheney to do so is disingenuous in the extreme.

“Marvin Rees has had his sights on this scheme for years. His initial consultation in 2017 was of doubtful legality as it didn’t even contain an option to keep the existing scheme and he said repeatedly that the council couldn’t afford it.

“ACORN’s successful campaign and the subsequent retention of the scheme showed this was and remains untrue.

“Cabinet member for housing Tom Renhard was yesterday recorded as saying he ‘would not be cutting the scheme’, when nine of ten of the options in the council’s consultation propose cuts and this is clearly the intention.

“Craig Cheney is playing word games around ‘cut’ or ‘scrap’ because it suits Marvin’s political agenda but for ordinary Bristolians the issue is whether tens of thousands of hard working families lose a lifeline which is the difference between getting food on the table for them and their kids or not.

“Bristolians can decide for themselves who is really in their corner and where any misleading statements come from.”

Read the full consultation here.

Main photo: Bristol City Council

Read next:

• Deputy mayor Craig Cheney to stand down as councillor
• Council tax and waste collection fees set to rise after marathon budget meeting
• Mayor likens Acorn council meeting disrupters to Capitol Hill insurrection

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