THOUSANDS of people across Hampshire are still waiting on their council tax rebates, according to statistics.
Figures compiled by the Local Democracy Reporting Service show that every council in the region has started issuing council tax rebates, as instructed by the government.
The £150 rebate is intended to help families through the ongoing cost of living crisis.
But the data collected suggests that more than 40,000 people across Hampshire are still waiting to be paid.
In Basingstoke and Deane, 84 per cent of households have received their council tax rebate.
A spokeswoman for the borough council said: ‘We have been working hard to develop a scheme locally in order to pay residents as quickly as possible.
‘Our first payments to residents in bands A to D were made in mid-April and to date we have paid a total of £7m to 46,833 households.
‘We have also paid just over £45,450 in discretionary funding payments for residents who are not in bands A to D but have requested support. Applications for these payments remain open until September 30.’
Hart District Council said it had paid 15,449 people so far, with 5,579 payments outstanding.
Rushmoor Borough Council – which covers Farnborough and Aldershot – has made payments to 25,766 residents, with 6,800 remaining. These are all non-direct debit residents, according to the press office.
A spokesperson for Eastleigh Borough Council said: ‘The council has been working very hard to ensure our residents get their payments as soon as possible.
‘We have a total of 45,703 households who are eligible to receive the £150 payment. Payments to 35,552 households (77.8 per cent) were paid on April 28. A further 685 households were paid by cheque on May 3.
‘We are currently processing the remaining 9,466 cheque payments and these will be going out to residents early next week. When the cheques are sent next week this will be 100 per cent of households paid.’
Winchester City Council has paid 21,350, with 8,650 people still awaiting payment.
East Hampshire District Council has issued rebates to 24,000 residents, with a further 7,000 outstanding.
Southampton City Council said 88 per cent of city residents have received their council tax rebates.
A spokeswoman said: ‘Direct debit payers received the rebate in their bank accounts on April 29.
‘We processed 65,515 transactions and the value of payments was £9.8m. Those not on direct debit – 28,414 households – are receiving the rebate via the Post Office.’
Fareham Borough Council did not provide any figures to the Local Democracy Reporting Service – instead simply saying that it received £5.3m from the government to make the rebates possible.
Councils in Portsmouth, Gosport, New Forest and Test Valley were also approached for figures.
Additional reporting by Toby Paine and Josh Wright
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here