Council working to complete Cost-of-living support payments

Wrexham Council are working to complete payments to all those eligible for the Cost-of-living support payment.

The Welsh Government announced that a £150 cost-of-living support payment would be provided to all households who, on February 15, were either:
– living in properties in Council Tax bands A-D
– receiving a means tested Council Tax reduction, regardless of their property band

A discretionary scheme will also be setup to help support other households who may be struggling but do not fit into the above criteria.

There are just over 42,000 households which are potentially eligible for this payment.

Wrexham Council have said they have initially been prioritising the direct debit cases, as at 23 June, 91% who pay by Direct debit should have received payment, a further payment will hit customers bank accounts shortly, which will take this to 95% by 27 June.

They told us, “The remaining cases which are being reviewed, around 1200 in total include cases where there are discrepancies between the name on mandate and Council Tax liability, or other queries which are having to be reviewed before payment or in cases where they have recently moved onto Direct Debit, the intention is that a further file of payments will be issued early next week, along with any payments which have been returned by bank.”

“There are a number of cases, around 17,000 who don’t pay by Direct Debit, or cases where we cannot use the bank details due to these potentially not being used for several years.”

“Whilst the bulk of the cases – around 88% of Direct Debit cases were paid by the End of May, there were a number of queries to resolve, or cases recently moved onto direct debit, which are included in the 1200 cases above, so the direct debit cases where we can pay will be completed and paid by end of June.”

“We’ve been undertaking testing of the web portal which has been delayed slightly, we will be issuing the first batch of letters from 27 June, these will be issued over the course of a few weeks.”

“We have updated the councils website to advise of the current position and when the non direct debit cases will be contacted”