Liverpool Council lobbied the UK Government to hold onto more than £1.5m it was overpaid to deliver the council tax energy rebate scheme.
More than £32m was made available by Whitehall earlier this year to help support households across Liverpool as the cost of living crisis began to bite. In February, the UK government announced a package of support to help people with increasing energy costs.
The support came in the form of two schemes - a core programme consisting of a £150 rebate for properties in council tax bands A-D. The discretionary scheme will help households outside of those bands and those who are eligible but may need further support.
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A report to Liverpool Council’s finance and resources select committee revealed how the local authority delivered the payment to 205,017 homes by the time of its closure a little less than two weeks ago, to the tune of £30,752,550. Government awarded the £32m based on an assumption of more than 215,000 households being eligible.
As a result, the council was overpaid by a little more than £1.5m and must now return it, despite attempts to repurpose it. The report said: “The council has made several enquiries with the government to clarify if any of this excess funding could be utilised elsewhere.
“However, the Government has insisted that overpaid funding of £1,552,500 must be returned.” An additional phase of the programme, the discretionary scheme for which an additional £1.6m was provided by Westminster, must be completed by the end of next month.
Households must meet a certain number of criteria to receive the payment, which include the property being someone’s sole or main residence and the council taxpayer not part of a governmental, local authority or housing association body. Properties will not be eligible for the rebate if there is no permanent resident, if it is a second home, or unoccupied.
Residents in council tax bands E to H in receipt of council tax support as well as households in bands F to H qualifying for the disabled reduction are eligible for the discretionary scheme. This is the same for people in council tax bands E to H qualifying for severe mental impairment exemption and carers discount.
The energy rebate was not without its faults however, with Liverpool Council forced to issue an embarrassing apology after it incorrectly sent out 10,000 letters to homes across the city regarding how to claim the £150. It was then forced to issue new letters after the originals contained incorrect data, thought to be names of householders.
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