THURROCK Council has lost £300,000 due to almost 1000 people incorrectly claiming council tax discount.

Thurrock Council began a review on the single person discount available for Council Tax in late 2016.

After a year of the campaign, the council has found 921 incorrect Single Person Discount (SPD) claims - which is around £300,000 income lost.

This is a significant amount of money the council insists would have otherwise been spent on public services in the borough.

The SPD provides a 25 per cent discount on council tax for those living alone which works out at around £300 per year for residents who qualify.

About 18,000 people currently claim the discount across the borough.

Shane Hebb, councillor responsible for Finance and IT said: “Last year, we warned residents of the upcoming review and gave them an opportunity to come forward and inform us of any changed circumstances.

“Most people updated us promptly, but we wanted to give those who had mistakenly neglected to update us, time to do so, so we could work on those that wouldn’t tell us.

“This review has given us the chance to revoke any incorrect claims by sharing information across organisations and in turn saved the taxpayer a significant amount of money which can be used for other services throughout the borough to the benefit of us all.

“For example - the money saved has paid for nearly a third of this years Clean It, Cut It, Fill It programme.”

For information about council tax visit: thurrock.gov.uk/council-tax

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