The Council are required to administer the Council Tax Rebate scheme in accordance with Government guidance.

Direct Debit accounts

Council Tax Rebate payments have commenced issue to residents on week commencing 9 May 2022, to eligible households where

• the Council holds a live direct debit instruction for payment of Council Tax and
• where the Council are satisfied with the results of any relevant pre-payment checks undertaken.

To assist with pre-payment checks, the Government has made available Spotlight, its due diligence risking function. Spotlight assists with pre-payment checks through its bank account verification function, which allows Councils to confirm name and address of a payee against the bank details provided, the validity of the bank account, together with instances of multiple applications being made with the same bank account.

The Council anticipate that Council Tax Rebate payments to all eligible households that satisfy the above criteria will be processed by Friday 20 May 2022.

Where an eligible household with a live direct debit instruction has not satisfied the pre-payment checks, the Council will contact the household direct to request further relevant information to enable the Council Tax Rebate to be paid.

Where the Council have processed a households’ Council Tax Rebate payment, the Council will notify the household for Council Tax by email, or, by post to confirm this.

Non Direct Debit accounts

In cases where the Council does not hold a live direct debit instruction for an eligible household, Councils can determine an appropriate claims method themselves.

The Council are currently developing and testing the application form that will be made available for these households. An online application form for people to complete will be available in the coming weeks.

Once this application form is available, the Council will notify potentially eligible households direct either by email, or, post, together with issuing messages through the Councils’ social media channels to encourage households to submit an application for the Council Tax Rebate.

ENERGY REBATE – PRE PAYMENT CHECKS

The Council are required to administer the Council Tax Energy Rebate scheme in accordance with Government guidance.

This includes the requirement for Councils to undertake pre-payment checks to prevent fraud, and payments being issued in error.

Where a discrepancy has been identified (for example-  surname, or, forename, or address on the bank account is different from the council tax account direct debit instruction) – we have asked for bank statements to verify that they are the account holder.

As part of the pre-payment checks that the Council are required to do for the Energy Rebate scheme we have issued a number emails from enquiries@hyndburnbc.gov.uk  or hyndburn.borough.council.council.tax@notifications.service.gov.uk

Please reply via email to enquiries@hyndburnbc.gov.uk and our dedicated Energy Rebate team will be able update our records and process your payment as soon as possible.

Discretionary Fund

In addition, the Council are also developing their Discretionary Fund, in order to provide support to other energy bill payers who are not eligible under the terms of the main Council Tax Rebate scheme.

Once the Councils’ Discretionary Fund scheme has been finalised and considered by elected members of the Council, the Council will notify potentially eligible households direct either by email, or, post, together with issuing information through the Councils’ social media channels to encourage households to submit an application for the Discretionary Fund.