Cash-strapped Medway council is to hire an investigator to check people are not wrongly claiming tax discounts, in a move it believes will save it nearly £800,000.

Plans have been revealed to close council tax relief schemes in order to raise around £2.3 million and reduce budgetary pressures.

The proposals would also mean second homes, empty properties, and vacant properties in need of repair would see council tax discounts and breaks removed.

The council plans to hire a staff member to investigate single-person discounts (SPDs), to make sure the relief isn’t being wrongly applied.

The draft budget documents say there are 37,696 council taxpayers that have an SPD in place, which is 1.61% higher than other local authorities.

Individuals are entitled to the 25% off SPD on the council tax bill if they are the only over 18 living in a property. However, they are required to report any change to the council themselves, rather than the authority checking that they are still eligible if their circumstances change.

The authority says it expects to reduce the number of people receiving the SPD by 2,000 properties due to identifying ineligible people, which would generate an additional £800,000 for the next financial year.

The council says it does not currently have resources to investigate errant SPDs but although an investigator would cost £40,000 per year it would mean a net gain for the council coffers of £760,000.

This follows the announcement that council tax will rise by the maximum amount next year, an increase of almost 5%.

A particular focus of the proposals is around empty properties, either unfurnished properties or properties that have no permanent residents, that are unoccupied long-term.

The current rules mean unfurnished empty properties pay standard council tax for two years, then they pay a premium on top, which can essentially double the amount paid, depending on the policy of the council involved.

New legislation, introduced in October, would mean this can take effect a year earlier.

The council papers predict that a 100% premium that comes into effect after one year would impact 392 long-term empty properties in Medway, generating an additional £500,000 in council tax next year.

The legislation would also allow changes on the status of second homes from April 1, 2025.

Similarly to empty properties, homes that are furnished but are not occupied would also have to pay a 100% premium on top of council tax after one year.

“Frankly, and bluntly, with our financial situation, if you can afford to have a second home, you can afford to pay full council tax…”

There are an estimated 341 properties in Medway that would be affected by this change, which, when the policy could come into effect in 2025, would earn an additional £532,000 for the 2025/26 financial year.

In relation to properties that are empty due to a need of refurbishment, since 2013 Medway Council has allowed a 100% discount for the first three months for unoccupied and unfurnished properties, called class C, and 12 months for properties undergoing or in need of major repair work, called class D.

This discount is not a national policy and is in place due to choices made by the council.

The draft budget documents say that this approach towards class C and D properties doesn’t incentivise owners to bring them back into use quickly and so the administration intends to remove this discount as soon as possible, from April 1, 2024.

They say it not only would benefit the council financially, but would also bring a large amount of homes back into use which would ease pressure on the housing market in the Towns.

The proposals say that, if approved by cabinet and the full council, this could bring more than £1 million into the council’s pocket.

Speaking at cabinet on November 21, council leader Vince Maple (Lab) said these changes were overdue and, based on the budget problems facing Medway Council, entirely necessary.

He said: “Frankly, and bluntly, with our financial situation, if you can afford to have a second home, you can afford to pay full council tax.

“There’s some work going on on single payers discounts and I want to be really explicitly clear, if you are entitled to single payer discount you will absolutely continue to receive it.

“If you are not entitled, that entitlement is going to be taken away because you should not be receiving that discount in your tax. Not for us, but for the people of Medway.

“Paying tax is a very patriotic thing to do and I am proud of this place and I want everyone who has got to pay their tax to do so appropriately.”

However, Tory leader Adrian Gulvin has said that the removal of the three-month council tax break for properties in need of refurbishment should be reconsidered as it may put strains on landlords.

He said: “I think that’s a bad move, an exceptionally bad move. To get rid of that three months window will be a final straw for a lot of private landlords and they may decide to move out the market, which means a loss of affordable housing.

“Speaking from personal experience, I let out one property and have had to spend over £20,000 to refurbish with no income coming in. If I’d had to pay council tax on top of that, that would’ve stretched my budget virtually to the limit.

“Sometimes landlords do need a bit of a helping hand. Surely what we want to do is provide a mixture of good quality accommodation for people here in Medway and the private rented sector is part of that.”

The changes will be confirmed as part of the council’s budget plans next February when the authority outlines for the next year how it intends to balance the books.