GOVERNMENT plans to change the way council tax benefit is administered have been condemned by Hartlepool Mayor Stuart Drummond.

He and other senior councillors are writing to the Government to ask for it to reconsider.

Mr Drummond said the proposal to transfer responsibility for the benefit from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to local authorities, alongside a ten per cent reduction in funding, created a "significant financial risk".

"This risk is likely to be far greater for councils like Hartlepool which serve more deprived communities, " said Mr Drummond.

The costs of funding council tax benefit is currently met by the DWP, which refunds expenditure incurred by local authorities.

From April 2013, the Government plans to pay a cash limited grant directly to councils, leaving it to them to decide how the money is distributed.

Mayor Drummond said: "This year, we will raise total council tax of £39.7m in Hartlepool. About £28.6m of this is paid directly by individual households and the remaining £11.1m is paid via the existing council tax benefit system.

"On this basis, the Government's proposals to reduce funding by ten per cent in 2013-14 means we will receive £1.1m less to fund a local council tax benefit scheme.

"When account is taken of the requirement to protect low-income pensioners, which we fully agree with, we estimate that other low-income households in Hartlepool could see reductions in council tax support of between 15 per cent and 20 per cent as there simply won't be enough money to go around."

The council's cabinet agreed to send a letter outlining its concerns to the Government as part of a national consultation on the proposed changes.