Nine of the Derbyshire councils who are part of the Derbyshire Transformational Partnership* have been working with Capita to conduct a single person’s council tax discount review.

Capita reviewed 135,000 cases of single person discount eligibility. 6,545 claimants were found to not be entitled to the discount and these have now been removed. This has generated additional revenue for the councils of £2.5million.

Kath Gruber, director of customer management at Derby City Council, commented: “In these difficult financial times it is important that councils make every effort to ensure that deliberate attempts to unfairly claim single person discount are identified. We want to ensure that only those entitled to council tax discount receive it, so the vast majority of residents who pay their full council tax each year do not have to subsidise those who choose to claim discounts they are not entitled to. This review has created significant additional council tax income, which can be put back into front line services and help keep council tax as low as possible.”