Cllr Cryan tells MPs how Southwark helps residents who can’t afford Council Tax

17 June 2022

On Monday 6 June, Cllr Stephanie Cryan, Cabinet Member for Finance, Democracy & Digital, spoke to the House of Commons Levelling up, Housing and Communities Committee about Southwark Council’s system for collecting Council Tax.

Cllr Cryan was asked to speak to the Committee as part its inquiry into Council Tax Collection.

Cllr Cryan told the Committee how Southwark Council helps Southwark residents who struggle to make ends meet if they can’t afford to pay their council tax. MPs on the Committee were told that Southwark aims to help those residents in debt who are struggling to pay through providing support. If a resident has more than one debt with the Council, the step-by-step process puts all of their unpaid payments into one single repayment to pay to make it easier for them to manage their money.

“We have to be really mindful that we are not putting too much financial pressure on our residents. Ideally, most people want to pay their council tax; some people just cannot. We are supporting one in six of our residents through our council tax support scheme.”

She also said that Southwark Council is doing all it can to help people in this situation but that the Government needs to invest in councils like Southwark so that they can do more to support residents.

“We manage to get our services done in Southwark. I am really proud of the budgets that we set. We have set budgets that help and support those who need it the most without calling on those demands, but we have to do it with what we have.”

After the session was over, the Committee said that what Cllr Cryan had said was very useful and that she had helped MPs understand how other councils can help people who are finding it hard to pay their council tax.

You can see what Cllr Cryan said in full here. 

Page last updated: 17 June 2022