ALMOST half a million North East households could see their council tax bills rise if the Government scrapped the single-person discount.

Labour’s Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has refused to rule out removing the 25 per cent deduction in council tax bills for people who live alone or are the only adult in their home.

A total of 8.39 million dwellings in England received the discount in 2023, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 487,061 of which were in the North East.

READ MORE: Help extended for North East families struggling with bills

That means just under 40 per cent of homes in our region currently benefit from the 25 per cent reduction, the highest rate in England, compared to just 31 per cent in London and 32 per cent in the South East.

South Tyneside would be the third worst-affected local authority area in the country, with 43 per cent of its households receiving the discount in 2023, while 34 per cent of homes in England as a whole would be hit by the cut.

Ms Rayner, who is also the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, told the House of Commons on Monday that there are no plans to increase council taxes in England.

But when questioned directly about the single-person discount, she did not commit to keeping it in place.

Asked by Conservative former minister Graham Stuart to guarantee that the discount, which he described as “so important to pensioners who are already losing out because of the absence of the winter fuel allowance”, would not be axed, the deputy PM replied: “I find it astonishing that members opposite, after running down the economy in the way that they have, after the Chancellor had to come to this House to talk about the billions of pounds black hole, that they’re now trying to claim that this Government is about raising taxes.

“This Government is about making sure that working people are better off and we’ll intend to do that.”

Cllr Mark Mitchell, chair of Newcastle City Council’s finance and budget monitoring scrutiny committee, issued a warning on Tuesday about the impact on the 49,000 affected homes in Newcastle.

The Liberal Democrat said: “This strikes me as not being a good idea. I suspect that the removal of the 25 per cent discount would impact people on lower income, seniors, and other people living on their own. Whether it is the intention or not, the effect would be to subsidise people living in big houses.”
 
Number of North East homes receiving single-person council tax discount in 2023:

South Tyneside – 43 per cent, 30,544
Hartlepool – 41 per cent, 18,162
Durham – 40 per cent, 98,217
Redcar and Cleveland – 40 per cent, 29,938
North Tyneside – 40 per cent, 39,728
Sunderland – 40 per cent, 51,489
Middlesbrough – 39 per cent, 24,839
Newcastle – 39 per cent, 49,874
Gateshead – 39 per cent, 36,096
Darlington – 39 per cent, 20,194
Stockton-on-Tees – 38 per cent, 33,704
Northumberland – 37 per cent, 58,276