Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:04 pm on 22 May 2019.
Thank you very much for raising these important issues. I agree completely that awareness raising of the support that is available out there is absolutely crucial. We have a national council tax reduction scheme, as Joyce Watson said, and that maintains entitlement to support for low-income households. The Welsh Government is providing £244 million to reduce those council tax bills for some of the households across Wales who are struggling the most. Our decision to maintain those full entitlements ensures that around 300,000 vulnerable and low-income households in Wales continue to be protected from increases in their council tax bills, and, of course, of those, around 220,000 households will pay nothing at all. I was really delighted that we were able to ensure that council tax is no longer charged to care leavers up to the age of 25, and I'm really pleased with the leadership that local authorities showed in deciding to do this on a voluntary basis, because they saw the value that it could give. But I'd be more than happy to provide any updates that I can in terms of ensuring that people are getting the help that they are fully entitled to.