Unprecedented attention has been given over the last few weeks to Chancellor George Osborne's announced cuts to welfare benefits, in particular cuts to Tax Credits.
The Prime Minister David Cameron promised not to cut Tax Credits before the General Election and the Government has now been dealt a major blow after the House of Lords voted to delay Tax Credit cuts and to have a three-year transition for low paid workers.
Locally, the Conservative-run Council have also been gearing up to hit low working families too. Over the summer they have been running a consultation on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme which closed on 11 October. There is an expectation that there will be more residents wanting to claim Council Tax Support once the Government has lowered their income thresholds. The affect of the Government policy was expected to leave a £250,000 hole in RBK's budgets. To meet this Council budget gap, the Tories locally propose to reduce the amount of Council Tax benefit families get - a double whammy on our lowest income working families!