Terminally ill people in Bristol will now be exempt from paying council tax.
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of Labour Councillor Tom Renhard’s amendment to the annual Council Tax Reduction Scheme update last month.
Now, anyone with a terminal illness will be added to Bristol City Council’s ‘Section 13A award’, which provides council tax exemptions to people in exceptional circumstances.
Research by end of life charity Marie Curie shows that in Bristol, 30 per cent of working-age people are dying in poverty and 17 per of pensioners are dying in poverty. The Bristol Labour Group were appalled by these statistics and believe the council can do more to support the city’s most vulnerable, so have since been pushing for Bristol City Council to follow Manchester’s lead and exempt terminally ill people from paying council tax.
Jamie Thunder, of Marie Curie, said: “The end of life should be a time to focus on what really matters – but for too many people, it’s dominated by financial difficulty as their income drops and costs rise.
“We’re delighted that Bristol City Council has become one of the first in the country to provide specific support with council tax to people facing a terminal illness. We would like to thank all parties within the committee for voting unanimously for this change. We hope to expand our campaign further, with more councils across England following suit to ease the financial burden on people at the end of life.”
Councillor Renhard said: “I’m proud that councillors endorsed our proposal to exempt Bristolians with a terminal illness from paying council tax. Too many people are dying in poverty. Bristol can and should always protect its most vulnerable. This is an important step in the right direction and shows our city’s intent to do all we can to support those who need it.
“The last thing anyone with a terminal diagnosis needs is the stress of invoices piling up.”