Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the number of households receiving Council Tax Support on the income of local authorities in (a) England, (b) the Northwest and (c) Stockport in the last five years.

Local authorities are responsible for the design of their council tax support schemes, including eligibility for help with bills. The Government recognises the importance of local council tax support for those in financial need, and that caseloads have increased as a result of the pandemic. It was announced at the Spending Review that local authorities in England would be provided with £670 million of additional grant funding to enable them to continue to provide support to households that require it.