Recent news

You can read more about the latest announcements here...

Empty Homes Premium

On 20 September 2011, CLG announced an additional £100m of bid-based funding available for community and voluntary groups that wish to bring empty homes back into use. Formal bidding guidance will be published shortly.

The Government also announced plans to consult on proposals to allow councils additional local discretion to introduce a council tax premium on homes in their area that have been empty for more than two years.

Read CLG’s announcement Opens in a new window

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Weekly Collection Support Scheme funding

On 30 September 2011, CLG announced an additional £250 million of funding in the form of a ‘Weekly Collections Support Scheme’. Local authorities may apply for funding in order to increase the frequency of their current bin collection service and can bid for funding on an individual basis, or jointly with other local authorities or the private sector. Authorities already providing a weekly bin collection can also apply for support from the fund. Bids for funding can comprise of both capital and revenue items. 

Further detail is expected shortly. Read CLG’s announcement Opens in a new window 

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Right to Buy discounts

On 2 October 2011, the Government set out further details on proposals to increase Right to Buy discounts making Right to Buy more attractive to tenants thereby increasing home ownership. Funds raised via Right to Buy schemes will be used to pay debt and fund the construction of new affordable homes. Under this new plan, for every home bought under Right to Buy, the Government expectation is that a new affordable home will be built – over and above existing plans. 

Further information will be published shortly as part of the Government’s Housing Strategy. Read CLG’s announcement Opens in a new window 

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Council Tax Freeze Grant, 2012-13

On 3 October 2011, the Government announced an additional £805 million of funding to enable local authorities to freeze council tax bills in 2012-13.  This is in addition to the funding provided to cover the freeze in 2011-12.

The new grant scheme will be open to all authorities, which decide to freeze or reduce their council tax in 2012-13.  Councils meeting these requirements will receive additional funding, equivalent to raising their 2011-12 council tax by 2.5 per cent.  

This funding is a one-off payment for 2012-13 only - there will be no additional match funding available for the 2012-13 council tax freeze in future years. The funding will be provided as an unringfenced grant.

It is unclear at present what will happen post 2014-15 with respect to Council Tax freeze 2011-12 match-funding.  CLG has confirmed that a decision on the future of this funding stream will be taken at the next Spending Review.

CLG will shortly write to all English local authorities with full details of the scheme, including providing an indicative breakdown of estimated grants to help local authorities with budget planning.

Read the Treasury’s announcement Opens in a new window