Z2K to was pleased to hear the BBC’s Today Programme devote some time to the proposed changes to council tax benefit currently being debated by the House of Lords in the Local Government Finance Bill.

An expert on local taxation Baroness Hollis put forward the case that the proposed changes will amount to a postcode lottery with no relation to need. Government Minister from the Department of Local Government and Communities Bob Neil MP did attempt to defend the current proposals although at many times his answers to questions were less than satisfactory.

Neither speaker dealt with the very difficult issue of the relationship of localised council tax benefit to the Universal Credit . Localised schemes may disrupt the complicated  UC benefit tapers with the effect of  further undermining the stated intention of UC which is to make sure  work always pays better than being on benefits.

Click here to listen to Baroness Hollis and Bob Neil on the Today Programme this morning.