Council tax discounts could be slashed and unemployed people made to pay under new changes being considered by Slough Borough Council.

The council currently operates a sliding scale of discounts for households on low incomes under its council tax support scheme – with unemployed people exempt from paying. But now council leaders are considering raising £1.7 million by cutting the discounts.

Council plans say the move is needed to help cover a £17 million black hole in next year’s budget – but acknowledge that this is a ‘difficult decision to take’.

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Some 6,500 households in Slough currently receive discounts on their council tax through the council tax support scheme. Of those, some 1,019 homes pay nothing because no one is in work.

But under the proposed changes, unemployed households would have to pay 70 per cent of a full council tax bill – costing them an average £468 a year.

Other homes to be hit include those on incomes between £115.38 and £461.53 a week, where discounts between 75 and 10 per cent are granted on a sliding scale.

Those in the lowest band – earning less than £115.38 – currently get the highest discount of 75 per cent. Anyone earning over £461.54 a week must pay the full amount.

But the proposed changes would also cut their discounts – with those on the lowest incomes getting a discount of 50 rather than 75 per cent.

On average, the cuts to the discounts would mean an average increase of £279 a year for families who receive them.

Making the case for the plans, the council says its discounts are currently the ‘most generous’ in Berkshire. It says it is the only council in the country to offer a 100 per cent discount, with the neighbouring Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead offering up to 80 per cent off bills.

It also says it would have to make cuts to services if the discounts aren’t slashed. Plans say: “The Council is already having to make significant savings from service areas.”

Plans add the council is ‘already receiving exceptional financial support’ from the Government. They say that even with this, the council will still has to make ‘further difficult decisions’ to balance its budget next year.

But opposition Labour councillor Christine Hulme has said the cuts to the discount will ‘drive people further into poverty’.

She told the press: “We’ve got very high rates of poverty, one of the worst child poverty rates in Berkshire. A lot of the working age people who they (the council) say this will affect will have children in their household.

“I’m really, really concerned they’re going for this now at a time when people are really struggling. This is just going to drive people further into poverty.”

Council leaders are set to consider the cuts at a meeting on Thursday October 14. If they agree, the council will still need to hold a public consultation council leaders look at plans again in January. The final decision will be made by a meeting of all councillors in March.