LAST week, Martin Lewis posted an emotional piece to camera about an interview that he had had with Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden.

Lewis has been campaigning for years to stop the appalling debt collection practices deployed by local authorities to chase residents that have fallen into arrears.

Following an extensive consultation, McFadden confirmed that the Labour government is bringing in changes as part of a package of other council tax changes. Council tax underpins trusted, frontline local services, and the government has determined it must work fairly for the 25-million households who pay it.

After 14 years of cuts and mismanagement, the government is stabilising council finances and restoring confidence in local government. To that end, the government is backing councils with over £5.6-billion extra investment over the next three years and delivering the first multi-year settlement in a decade.

New reforms into how funding is shared out have been rolled out, reconnecting it to need and deprivation and ending an unfair system that kept deprived places poor. Whatever local opposition parties may say, that has meant the single largest ever local government settlement for Cornwall Council.

The fact the council thought it would get even more, based on flawed summer calculations, simply cannot deflect from the fact that it has received record funding from this Labour government.

But as well as the total sums, the government is reforming council tax administration which has been stuck in the past: the system introduced in 1993 hasn’t kept pace with how people live and pay today. Taxpayers should have a system that’s clear, accessible and simple, with support easy to find when people need it.

Councils must be able to collect what’s due, but the current rules can be one of the harshest enforcement regimes, hitting those who cannot pay in the same way as those who will not pay. Under this Labour government, aggressive, fast-escalating enforcement that drives vulnerable people deeper into hardship will end.

Enforcement will be proportionate and humane, while clamping down on deliberate avoidance so the system remains fair for everyone. The government’s consultation drew 3,000-plus responses from the public, councils and stakeholders, showing strong support for fairer day-to-day administration and the programme of reforms being brought in across this Parliament will make a tangible difference for vulnerable households.

We’ll make bills easier to manage: households who want to pay over 12 months will be able to do so automatically, while 10-month payment will remain an option. We’ll make support easier to access.

We’ll slow unnecessary escalation: more time before full-year liability is triggered after a missed payment, stronger expectations on councils to engage, and liability order costs capped at £100.

We’ll modernise and remove stigma in the system including updating the “Severely Mentally Impaired” disregard terminology/definition and moving towards a simpler, more consistent application process.

Although seemingly minor, these humane changes will support vulnerable residents while we focus on the broader cost of living crisis and I very much welcome them.