Council Tax ‘initial reforms’ to be introduced during this Senedd term with consultation to start next year

Welsh Government Finance and Local Government Minister Rebecca Evans has announced plans for a consultation next year on an “ambitious package” of council tax reforms.

As we recently reported, Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru unveiled a “Co-operation Agreement” which will see the two parties work together on more than 40 new policies over the next three years – with one headline item being Council Tax reform – with the parties agreeing to explore ways to make the system “fairer”.

Today more detail has been given, with options being considered this term include revaluation, a review of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, and an evaluation of discounts, disregards, exemptions and premiums – with options for more fundamental reform in the longer term.

The Minister said reforms to council tax would be “designed to ensure contributions from households are made as fairly as possible, while maintaining its role as a significant revenue stream which helps to fund essential public services including education, social care, and recycling”.

Rebecca Evans, Minister for Finance and Local Government, added: “We want to modernise the council tax system and make it fairer. We want to make council tax more progressive in its design and delivery.

“This will be a significant piece of work and it will be important, through the consultation we launch next year, that we listen to people’s views and look at what can be practically achieved during this Senedd term – as well as leaving open the potential for further and more fundamental reforms in the longer term.

“I have been speaking with colleagues in local government, who are of course key partners in delivering what we set out to achieve. It’s important we co-design changes with them as well as work with partners in the Senedd and across Wales to find consensus on reform.

“Changes won’t be brought in immediately and it will be important to focus work on the early building blocks needed for change, including revaluation. I want to achieve meaningful reform, with carefully considered ideas that everyone gets a chance to have a say on.”

As this work will be carried out in “collaboration” with the Plaid Cymru Senedd Group Siân Gwenllian, Plaid Cymru Lead Designated Member was also quoted as saying: “Plaid Cymru will work closely with the Welsh Government and local government in Wales to reform what is an out of date, regressive and distortionary taxation. We have long argued that the current system disproportionately impacts poorer areas and change is long overdue. We look forward to developing a fairer and more progressive system as we put our co-operation agreement with the Welsh Government into action.”

A consultation is planned with a view to introducing initial reforms during this Senedd term.