Claim up to £200 free supermarket vouchers if you receive Council Tax support - apply now!

I’ve just seen that people in Barnsley (the amount varies by area) can get £200 free supermarket vouchers, for Morrisons, Aldi, Asda and Tesco, or vouchers for Argos, Halfords or Currys if they receive Council Tax support. The deadline to apply is end of March but it will end sooner once all funding has gone so don’t delay if you qualify.

More details here: https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/service...council-tax/financial-support-for-households/

Check your own council’s website if you receive Council Tax support but live outside of Barnsley.

Hope this helps someone!

 

Bump back onto the first page.

 

Got the vouchers for my dad last week, definitely worth looking into for anyone who gets a council tax rebate

 

Really frustrates me how benefits work. Someone 2 quid below the cut off gets absolutely everything yet someone 2 quid above it gets nothing meaning the one who in theory is worse off is actually better off by thousands. I wish we used a sliding scale for all benefits. £200 if you only earn X amount £190 if you're £10 more than that, £180 for a tenner more etc. Far more people who need it would benefit.

 

They do that so often with things. Punish people for not being told quick enough

 

It’s because they only have a set amount they’ve been given from Government. They should probably half the amount handed out to each applicant and twice as many people get it but what actually normally happens with these things is that people don’t find out about it and the money doesn’t get spent. The council then doesn’t get given as much next time as it’s ‘obviously not needed’. To get around that they offer the ones who do apply a larger amount to ensure the whole amount gets allocated. However, if it is popular, it means it might run out earlier.

 

It’s because Government grants are always time restricted and never well advertised. We got a £1800 grant for the school library that we found out about through a student who joined a Labour Youth group (the school is in a Conservative area). They told him about a social mobility grant that was available (up to £1800 max) and that he should apply (only students could apply on behalf of the school) and that he was basically guaranteed to get the full amount as the deadline was the week after and only one other person had applied. We managed to scramble the paperwork together and it was awarded on deadline day. Thousands of pounds were returned to Government unspent despite the fact that loads of schools would have killed for that amount for their library.

 

Thanks @JamDrop, I had no idea about this scheme at all. Mentioned it to my Mrs and she has helped her mum get shopping vouchers as a result.

Well done to BMBC too, all very straightforward by the sounds of it.

 

I’m so pleased!

 

Funnily enough that is how personal taxation works here. There is no fixed allowance but low income earners get a tax free zone starting at around 7k free of tax. As your income increases above that the allowance reduces to the point where you pay tax on 100% of your earnings. It is non linear so by the time you get to 15k p.a. you get very little allowance and by the time you get to around 30k nothing
An additional percentage of local and regional tax is also added and is based on your house or property value. So the moreyour house is worth the more you pay. That does though replace Council tax as for Prima Casa there is none. Rifuti Rubbish and utilities vary from region to region but are pretty low. We pay around 210euro per year for 4 rubbish collections per week. They even provide all the bags including biodegradable ones for organic and paper sacks for cardboard and paper FoC. The only thing is organic stuff has to be taken to drop point bins nearby due to the hot climate in summer do it is at your discretion when you decide you need to get rid. Overall though tax is high here IVA (VAT) is 22% on almost all purchases.

 

Thanks JD we got some sorted for my Gran

 

Excellent news!

 

Time for another bump for those who missed this.

 

Final bump