RESIDENTS of Oxford can now apply for a £250 discount on their council tax this year.

Oxford City Council is offering the helping hand to people struggling to pay the bills as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Working age people with a successful claim for council tax reduction (CTR) this financial year will automatically receive this discount.

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That means they will either have nothing to pay or their bill will be reduced by up to £250.

More than 2,200 current CTR claimants will have the discount applied to their council tax account this month.

They will receive a new bill and a letter stating how much discount they have been given. All new CTR claims until the end of March will also get the discount.

The discount is being funded through the council’s share of the national £500 million coronavirus hardship fund.

The council said that it was giving £100 more than the £150 recommended by Government 'as part of its commitment to tackling poverty and inequality in Oxford'.

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The council is also considering options for introducing a discretionary hardship award for issues not covered by its CTR scheme – for example, where someone has taken on a new tenancy but has not been able to move during the pandemic.

Oxford is one of only a few English councils retaining 100 per cent support with the cost of council tax for working-age households. Since the abolition of national council tax benefit in 2013, nearly 90 per cent of councils have made cuts to their CTR schemes.

The most common change across England is the introduction of minimum payments that require all households to pay at least a proportion of their council tax.