Thousands
more seek
debt help

Thousands more people are seeking debt advice as public spending cuts force an increasing number of poorer households into paying council tax.

And Conservative-run councils are the most likely to seek to impose bills on the least well-off households in their areas by “political preference”, an economic think tank said.

They were among the main findings of an Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report into the 
controversial move to end a national benefit scheme from April 2013.

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It also raised questions about how much tax would go uncollected.

Local authorities were handed responsibility for designing their own systems but Government funding for them was cut by 10 per cent at the same time.

With pensioners protected from the impact, most councils have passed on at least some of the reduction to low-income households which previously paid nothing or received help.

Town hall chiefs complain of being left in an impossible situation and a Commons spending watchdog has raised serious concerns about the impact on vulnerable households.

The IFS report said entitlements for 2.5 million working-age households dropped by an average £160 a week.

Minimum payments were introduced in deprived areas – mostly Labour-controlled.

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