TRAFFORD Council is consulting with the community over proposals to for its council tax support scheme, which it says will provide some residents with help to pay their council tax.

Anyone who lives in the borough can take part in the consultation, which runs until November 17, by completing the Council’s online survey at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/S2Q527Y

The council is looking at changing its Council Tax Support Scheme (CTS) to:

• Make care leavers aged 18-25 exempt from paying Council Tax.

• Help people who are claiming for Universal Credit while also applying for CTS by using the same start dates for both claims, so that the benefits are calculated together.

• Extend the present self-employed CTS calculation to include company directors.

Councillor Patrick Myers, executive member for corporate resources, said: “Our current CTS scheme has worked well and is already one of the most generous in the north of England.

"This upgrade will provide significant help for help care leavers as they adapt to adult life and the specific financial responsibilities that come with that.

"Ensuring we collect the views of our residents is of great importance. By having their say, local people and businesses are able to, where possible, shape and influence our decisions, and we ask that all our current, past and future claimants take the time to take part in our survey.”

If given the go-ahead the changes will be introduced to the CTS from 2018/19.

The proposed changes in this consultation will not affect people of state pension credit age.

The Council is keen to hear residents' views on the proposed changes by completing the survey. It should only take about 10-15 minutes to answer the questions. Responses to the questionnaire are anonymous and will not be passed on to third parties.