The council’s support scheme for vulnerable residents has finally been approved after a previous version of the plan was slammed for making a portion of child maintenance grant taxable.

An initial proposal was scrapped by the ruling Conservative group after the council’s chief finance officer and executive member for finance, along with other senior members of the council, had not properly scrutinised the plans.

New plans for the council’s council tax reduction (CTR) scheme, which is designed to reduce the amount of council tax vulnerable residents pay in council tax, now no longer includes counting a third of child maintenance grant as income.

Speaking at a meeting of the council, leader Julian McGhee-Sumner said: “We fully admit we took our eye off the ball on this one.

“We didn’t review it in the same way we would have done in previous years.

“We have listened, we have taken on board all the comments, it might not be a perfect solution to everything we want to do today but I think it is a better solution than you will find with most of our neighbouring authorities.

“What we propose to do going forward is to set up a party that will look into this in advance of next year so we can make sure we are as good as we can possibly be.”

At a meeting in January, where the previous CTR was approved, leader of the opposition, Liberal Democrats councillor Lindsay Ferris, pointed out that a family with one child on an income of under £10,000 a year would still be expected to pay £400 in council tax every year.

Cllr Ferris told Conservative leader Julian McGhee-Sumner it was “brave” to “admit” the leadership had got something “wrong” but added: “My concern, which was mentioned the first time this was presented, is that we have some of the most vulnerable people here, and to try and get even 22 per cent council tax off some people will be very difficult.

“If the council pursues somebody for council tax and take them to court because they can’t afford to pay council tax, we’d end up dealing with the cost of it, evicting someone, and then finding them a home again.

“These are people who can’t pay, not people who won’t pay.”

The Liberal Democrats proposed an amendment to the scheme which Cllr Ferris described as a “safety net fund”, which would allocate £100,000 to support vulnerable residents who may not be able to afford “even the reduced council tax they are expected to pay”.

Conservative and some Liberal Democrats councillors voted together to approve the amendment after Cllr Anthony Pollock said it was an “extremist fund” he was hoping the council would not need.

Before this, Labour councillor Andy Croy also welcomed Cllr McGhee-Sumner’s comments, but also said: “When these cuts to the incomes of the poorest came before us last month I blamed the drip, drip, drip of Tory austerity.

“What I hadn’t appreciated was that on top of this thin layer of Tory gruel, there was a thing layer of indifference.

“However I do welcome the U-turn performed by the executive.”

Labour councillor Rachel Burgess had added that she was “shocked and angry” at the previous CTR plans.

The capital cut off point for the scheme is now £4,000, down from the previous figure of £16,000.

And Cllr Burgess later claimed: “This council tax reduction scheme once helped 1,100 more people than it does now. The help the scheme offers is reducing every year.

“The changes made will mean it will help even fewer people.”

Another change will see £10 per week of carer’s allowance disregarded under the new scheme.

Currently, those providing at least 35 hours of care a week are entitled to receive £66 a week.

However, one-third of this allowance will still qualify as income under the new council tax reduction rules, meaning a portion of the grant is considered when carers pay council tax.

Cllr Burgess claimed this was “penalising carers” after Cllr Croy said it was a “tax on those who care for others”.

The new council tax reduction scheme plans were approved at a meeting of the council on Thursday, February 22.