Fewer poor households would pay full council tax if households took up their entitlement to council tax benefit. According to the National Statistics publication, ‘Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-up in 2005-06’, take-up of council tax benefit by non-pensioners is relatively high (in the range of 73 to 81 per cent. of those eligible in 2005-06). While the level of council tax benefit take-up in 2005-06 among pensioners is lower, it increased as a percentage of those eligible in 2005-06 for the first time since 1997 to the range 54 to 60 per cent.
Available information on how many households in poverty paid full council tax is shown in the following table.
Before housing costs After housing costs 1994-95 2.2 2.4 1995-96 2.0 2.2 1996-97 2.1 2.3 1997-98 2.2 2.3 1998-99 2.3 2.5 1999-2000 2.5 2.6 2000-01 2.6 2.8 2001-02 2.7 2.8 2002-03 2.7 2.9 2003-04 2.7 2.8 2004-05 2.6 2.8 2005-06 2.7 3.0 Notes: 1. Data are not available from this source for 1993-94. 2. The information shown is for Great Britain. 3. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication 'Households Below Average Income' series, which uses disposable household income, equivalised for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 4. The figures are based on OECD equalisation factors. 5. The preferred measure of low income is by using a threshold of 60 per cent. of the contemporary median income. This is an internationally recognised measure. 6. Figures have been presented on both a before housing cost and after housing cost basis. For before housing cost, housing costs (such as rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, structural insurance payments and ground rent and service charges) are not deducted from income, while for after housing cost they are. This means that after housing cost incomes will generally be lower than before housing cost. 7. Tables show numbers in millions rounded to the nearest £100 thousand. Source: Family Resources Survey, 1994/95 to 2005-06.