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The Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme

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Important information if you are in receipt of The Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (sometimes known as Council Tax Support)

 

 

What is The Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTRS)?

Council Tax Support helps people on low income pay their Council Tax and was introduced in April 2013 when Council Tax Benefit was abolished and replaced by locally agreed schemes.

What is changing?

On 1st April 2021 there will be a new council called West Northamptonshire, replacing the County Council, Northampton Borough Council, Daventry District Council and South Northamptonshire Council.  This means that four different Council Tax Support schemes will be harmonized into one scheme for the new authority

Consultation on these changes.

The four existing Councils have been working together on draft proposals for a new West Northamptonshire Council. They have opened a consultation period to hear the views of residents who could be affected by these changes in Daventry District, Northampton Borough or South Northants District council areas.

How could we be affected by these changes?

Each of the current councils have a different scheme for working age people.  Because of the current arrangements in Daventry, if you receive LCTRS you might be worse off under the new arrangements.

Great Oxendon Parish Council have submitted their concerns about this directly to the West Northamptonshire consultation.  As a Council we are keen to ensure that all our residents are aware of the changes being proposed too.

What can you do if you are worried about these proposals?

There is an information page explaining how these changes may affect you, and the opportunity to submit your views as part of a consultation.  The consultation will run for six weeks from 2nd November 2020 to 13th December 2020.  Please feel free to also submit your own views or ideas through this consultation.  The more feedback the new Authority receives about their proposed changes, the better the decision they can make.

The information page can be found here:

https://futurenorthants.citizenspace.com/lctrs-west/2021-22/

If you know of any friends or neighbours who pay be affected by this, pleas encourage them to look at the website so they can understand clearly how things may change.

Annual Accounts – Notice of Public Rights

Annual Accounts – Notice of Public Rights

Each year the Great Oxendon Parish Council prepares an Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR).  The AGAR has now been published and can be viewed on-line here.

It will not be reviewed by the appointed auditor, since the Parish Council has certified itself as exempt from the appointed auditor’s review.

Any person interested has the right to inspect and make copies of the AGAR, the accounting records for the financial year to which it relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records must be made available for inspection by any person interested. For the year ended 31 March 2019, these documents will be available on reasonable notice by application to the Parish Clerk.

The Notice of Public Rights can be viewed here. This can also be viewed on the village noticeboard.

You can view all of our financial documents for 18/19 by clicking here.

The period of inspection commences on Monday 17 June 2019 and ends on Friday 26 July 2019.

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

The Parish Council is all prepared for the new General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”). It has adopted and updated its relevant policies & procedures and also appointed a Data Protection Officer. Although similar to previous legislation the GDPR does impose new burdens on the Parish Council, including new reporting requirements and the potential for increased fines and penalties.

Residents can be assured that any data held by the Parish Council will be processed lawfully and the data would only be used for the purpose which it was provided for. We do not share your data and we do not store it any longer than necessary. Any data we do hold will be secure and this will be maintained on an ongoing basis to keep our records both accurate and relevant.

If you are interested in the new legal requirements please visit the Information Commissioners web site.