Children under 12 who are living in households which qualify for council tax reductions will be eligible for cheaper swimming under a new £100,000 change to the council’s concessionary policy.
It is also to implement its new KIDZ card which is aimed at extending the National Entitlement Card to children under 12.
Councillors agreed a report at the policy and resources committee which recommended that to simplify the criteria for income-related concessions, all people living in households which are entitled to council tax reduction should be accepted as eligible for concessionary benefits.
The report, by director of leisure and communities Stewart Murdoch, also recommended the concessionary policy be extended to any current or former member of the armed forces entitled to the community covenant.
The council and its partners should also adopt a pro-active approach to ensuring that individuals and households eligible for concessions are advised and assisted to obtain the concessions, the report adds.
The purpose of the report was to share the findings of a review of current policy on concessions and to seek agreement for ways in which concession policy should be developed to assist with the implementation of Dundee’s Fairness Strategy.
The report states that while it is not possible to estimate the exact cost of implementing the new policy, the additional financial subsidy should be up to £100,000 in a full financial year which can be met from the council’s contingencies budget.
The review of the concessionary policy began last year with the formation of a group tasked with reviewing the concessions under which those on low incomes or other eligible citizens receive a discount on the normal price for services provided by Dundee City Council and Leisure & Culture Dundee.
The group quickly established that there was no single document which brought together Dundee City Council’s policies with regard to concessions and a number of different policies existed between council departments and Leisure & Culture Dundee.
Mr Murdoch states that the report aims to simplify the entitlement criteria in the short term, while exploring more targeted social prescribing models and making the NE Card the customer access to the concession.
“This will set up an infrastructure that enables better delivery of a stigma-free approach to giving concessions,” he said.