Unfair Post Office Council Tax Charge Set to be Scrapped at Long Last

Following a long campaign by the Liberal Democrats Bedford Borough Council is set to remove the charge on the payment of council tax bills at the post office. The charge was introduced in April 2006 in the face of fierce opposition from the Liberal Democrat Group, and has caused footfall to drop in local post offices while adding almost an additional £25 onto the council tax bills of residents who use their local branch for payments. As a result of pressure from the Liberal Democrats, however, a meeting of the Council's Executive on Wednesday is set to remove the charge from April 2010.

Commenting, Bedford Borough Liberal Democrat Group Leader and Executive Member Cllr Dave Hodgson said: "I am delighted that our campaign looks set to result in the removal of this unfair and discredited council tax surcharge. The end of the charge will not come a moment too soon, but sadly it has come too late for those essential local post office branches closed by the Government in last year's savage cull. At a time when the Council should have been supporting local post offices, it has instead forced them to suffer the consequences of reduced footfall since the charge was introduced with Conservative and Labour support in 2006.'

"Meanwhile, local residents have been punished for using their local post office branch to the tune of an extra charge of nearly £25 per year. It is effectively an extra tax on those who use the post office, who include many of the most vulnerable in our local communities including pensioners, those with mobility problems and those without access to full banking facilities. The case for removing this unfair additional council levy for post office users is so overwhelming that the Conservatives and Labour must reverse their earlier position on this and vote for its removal at Wednesday's meeting."

A report to the Council's Executive Meeting taking place on Wednesday 16th September recommends that free payments of council tax should be re-introduced at post offices from April 2010. Currently, residents using the post office to pay their council tax face an additional charge of £2.45 each time they pay their monthly bill. If the council covers the charge itself, as it does for all other forms of payment, it will cost the authority no more than 50 pence per transaction.