§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many residential care homes are liable for council tax in each local authority; what consideration he has given to allowing council tax discounts to such homes if there are resident staff; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryThe total number of residential care homes in the area of each social services authority as at 31 March 1992 is set out in the table. No information is available on the distribution of these between districts in non-metropolitan areas or on the council tax liabilities relating to them.
People receiving care in registered homes are not counted towards the personal element of the council tax. The council tax bill for a dwelling where all the residents are recipients of care will therefore be subject to a 50 per cent. council tax discount—the tax payable will be the same as that due for any empty property. Members of staff with accommodation in the home will not affect this discount provided that their main home is elsewhere. If separate, self-contained accommodation is provided for staff, this will be subject to a separate council tax bill, and will not affect the tax payable in respect of the care home itself.
If, on the other hand, a member of staff has his sole or main residence in the care home itself, discount entitlement may be lost. But where this is the case, the discount forgone is likely to be smaller than the council tax for which the person would have been liable if he or she had lived elsewhere. It is also very likely to be smaller than the community charge which the member of staff will have paid in previous years.
670W
Social services authority Number of care homes Avon 410 Barking 13 Barnet 83 Barnsley 48 Bedfordshire 133 Berkshire 195 671W
Social services authority Number of care homes Bexley 21 Birmingham 291 Bolton 53 Bradford 151 Brent 38 Bromley 81 Buckinghamshire 129 Bury 61 Calderdale 71 Cambridgeshire 147 Camden 39 Cheshire 220 City of London 0 Cleveland 120 Cornwall 265 Coventry 128 Croydon 99 Cumbria 175 Derbyshire 255 Devon 846 Doncaster 69 Dorset 453 Dudley 85 Durham 152 Ealing 56 East Sussex 589 Enfield 68 Essex 433 Gateshead 58 Gloucestershire 182 Greenwich 24 Hackney 31 Hammersmith 27 Hampshire 654 Haringey 64 Harrow 54 Havering 55 Hereford and Worcester 282 Hertfordshire 166 Hillingdon 48 Hounslow 23 Humberside 407 Isle of Wight 120 Isles of Scilly 2 Islington 38 Kensington 23 Kent 707 Kingston upon Thames 39 Kirklees 103 Knowsley 24 Lambeth 84 Lancashire 823 Leeds 167 Leicestershire 247 Lewisham 70 Lincolnshire 233 Liverpool 99 Manchester 121 Merton 33 Newcastle upon Tyne 74 Newham 25 Norfolk 319 North Yorkshire 350 North Tyneside 80 Northamptonshire 190 Northumberland 98 Nottinghamshire 259 Oldham 63 Oxfordshire 121 Redbridge 47 Richmond upon Thames 35 Rochdale 53 Rotherham 39 Salford 56 Sandwell 54 Sefton 201 Sheffield 116
Social services authority Number of care homes Shropshire 151 Solihull 26 Somerset 205 South Tyneside 42 Southwark 38 St. Helens 33 Staffordshire 255 Stockport 72 Suffolk 196 Sunderland 73 Surrey 311 Sutton 36 Tameside 48 Tower Hamlets 17 Trafford 77 Wakefield 69 Walsall 63 Waltham Forest 53 Wandsworth 59 Warwickshire 148 West Sussex 435 Westminster 31 Wigan 61 Wiltshire 196 Wirral 145 Wolverhampton 68 TOTAL ENGLAND 16,073