Croydon’s Cabinet is due to consider whether to open a public consultation on possible changes to Council Tax Support for working-age residents, in a review that could shape bills from April 2027.
The authority has stressed that no decision has been made to alter the scheme. Wednesday’s decision is on whether residents and other interested parties should be asked for their views on a range of options; any eventual changes would require a later decision by the full council.
The issue is significant because Council Tax Support is intended to help people on low incomes or certain benefits meet their council-tax liability. The council says it awarded about £39m through the scheme in 2025/26, with approximately £25m going to working-age residents. Pension-age support operates under separate national arrangements.
What Cabinet is being asked to consider
Croydon is legally required to review its local support scheme each year. The council says it is also under formal government directions connected to its Best Value intervention and must show that it is examining areas of spending within its control.
The published proposal leaves the existing scheme on the table, but says a consultation could test possible reductions in support, changes to eligibility protections and different ways of assessing income and savings. The council has said its present scheme costs more than many comparable London arrangements and that it wants to consider approaches used elsewhere.
Details reported from the papers for the meeting indicate that some options would reduce the maximum level of support available to certain working-age households to 50 per cent. They include options affecting disabled claimants, single parents with young children and other low-income residents. The options are not agreed policy, and neither the amount paid by any household nor the final design of a scheme has been determined.
More than 19,000 current claimants could potentially be within the scope of the review, according to reporting on the Cabinet papers. That is not a forecast that all would face the same bill increase: effects would depend on an individual household’s circumstances and on which, if any, option is eventually adopted.
Consultation would come before any new scheme
If Cabinet authorises the process, the council expects a statutory six-week consultation to begin later this month. Residents, advice organisations and other interested parties would be able to comment on the options and on proposed safeguards. The council says it would use responses to shape recommendations for a scheme beginning in 2027/28.
Among the possible mitigations referred to in the meeting material is a hardship arrangement intended to provide transitional help for some households facing particular financial difficulty. It would not settle the wider question of eligibility or support levels, which remains open at this stage.
Council officers have estimated that options under consideration could produce annual savings of between £3.6m and £12m. Those figures are estimates, not savings already secured, and would need to be weighed against the impact on residents and practical effects on collection before councillors reach a final position.
Why timing matters
The council’s indicative timetable puts a final decision before Full Council in February 2027, ahead of any implementation from April. That gives the consultation an important role, but it also means the immediate Cabinet meeting should not be read as a vote to cut support.
For residents, the immediate question is whether Croydon will seek views on a major revision of a means-tested local safety net. For the authority, the review sits alongside the financial pressures identified through the Best Value intervention. The council says its aim is to ensure support is fair, targeted and sustainable; its consultation proposal is the start of a decision-making process rather than its conclusion.
