Ashfield District Council has started paying the first 25,600 Council Tax rebates for eligible households.

The first round of payments was made to residents in Bands A-D who pay their Council Tax via Direct Debit on Friday 22 April and will reach bank accounts by Wednesday 27 April. This means that by the end of the week the Council will have made payment to over 30,000 households.

A secure online form will be set up on the Council's website for those who don't pay their Council Tax by Direct Debit. They will be writing to these residents to provide the full details of how they can receive their rebate.

Councillor David Martin, Cabinet Member for Finance said: "We are pleased to be able to process the first 25,600 Council Tax rebates for those that live in Bands A – D properties. We are the one of the first Councils in Nottinghamshire to be able to do this. I'd like to thank our Benefits and Revenues' teams for the work they have done to ensure prompt payment. 

"The Council has been working hard to ensure that we can be in a position to pay this rebate out as quickly as possible. We'd like to thank residents for their patience.

"We are putting all our efforts in behind the scenes to get the secure online form set up to allow the payment to be made to those residents who don't use Direct Debit. It is a difficult and complex task, but we are committed to making those payments as soon as possible to help local families.

"However, the Government has insisted that the Council must make detailed checks before we can make the payments to ensure no fraud takes place. The process will add time on to some payments being made, but we will be writing to residents who don't pay by Direct Debit, so we can make payments to them as soon as possible.

"We hope to have made most payments by the end of May."