PUBLIC pressure has forced Herefordshire Council to back-track on plans to charge the county’s most vulnerable families more in council tax.

In an announcement today council leader Tony Johnson promised that council tax support would be protected through 2015/16 for Herefordshire’s lowest-earners.

It’s a group that had traditionally been protected from paying council tax, but whose discount had fallen from 100 per cent to 84 percent in just two years.

In a proposal laid out by Coun Johnson this summer, that figure would have been cut again to 76 per cent.

However in a statement today the council acknowledged that not enough research had been done into the impact that change would have on families.

A council spokesman said: “Further work needs to be undertaken to better understand the economic impacts on families of a further reduction in the level of support provided coinciding with national changes to welfare benefits.

“Responses to the consultation indicated the concerns some residents and support agencies felt about the negative impacts of a further reduction in support.

”One of those support agencies to express its concerns was Hereford’s Citizens Advice Bureau.

CEO Claire Keetch told The Hereford Times in August that it the change would “put those already struggling under extreme stress and exacerbate a difficult situation.”

She also raised concerns that the council would fail to come close to the £304,000 figure it projected to save, due to residents being able to write off council tax payments if they fell into debt.

Coun Johnson said: “Having listened to the views of those who would be directly affected I know that those currently in receipt of council tax support will be relieved to know that this level of support will remain in place for a further year.”

He added that the decision to reverse the council proposal was made easier by the fact more council tax was recovered this year than initially estimated.