BENEFITS claimants in West Somerset will have to pay just 15 per cent of Council Tax bills after local councillors found an unexpected pot of cash.

The Government's decision to abolish the existing national system for claimants and replace it with district council-led schemes initially looked likely to leave those in West Somerset having to pick up 70 per cent of the bills.

But a cash windfall from other Council Tax reforms involving the removal of some discounts and exemptions, which the district council thought it would have to pass on to Somerset County Council, has allowed it to bridge the gap.

At a meeting of the full district council on Wednesday, councillors unanimously agreed to limit liability for benefits claimants to 85 per cent.

Chief executive Adrian Dyer explained that although the introduction of the locally based scheme had reduced the authority's Council Tax base - because homes receiving benefits could no longer be included in the calculations - the changes on certain discounts and exemptions had made it rise.

"We now have a slight increase in the Council Tax base, so we can now afford the 85 per cent," he said. "The county council is not going to benefit from the reforms as we thought."

Cllr Peter Murphy, who was instrumental in forcing the re-think on the level of liability, said he was very pleased.

"However, even 85 per cent is bad enough," he said.

Cllr Murphy said the council's own equalities impact assessment on the introduction of the scheme showed that the poorest people in the district would suffer.

"Many people receiving Council Tax benefits are actually low income workers," he said.

"But I am pleased that we are doing what we should be doing - protecting and supporting the people of West Somerset."

The abolition of the existing system means councils will lose hundreds of thousands of pounds of Council Tax income.

And although the Government has given a grant this year to cover some of the lost funding, it is not clear if that will continue in future years.

Town and parish councils across West Somerset had raised concerns as district authorities are under no legal obligation to pass on a share of the grant to them.

However, despite earlier uncertainty over whether West Somerset would hand over the cash - more than £110,000 - councillors voted at Wednesday's meeting to do so.

Williton parish councillor Bill Vaughan told the meeting that he fully appreciated the grant was not guaranteed but it had been expected the money would be passed down to parish and town authorities because of a commitment given by the district council last year.

He said Williton had certainly set its budget with that expectation in mind and failing to receive it would leave the council with shortfall of around £16,000.

"We would need a 26 per cent increase in our precept."

Cllr Vaughan said that level of tax increase was unacceptable at a time when parish and town councils were taking on the running of more services.

District council lead member for finance Cllr Kate Kravis paid tribute to the good work and efforts of town and parish councils.

"Not to distribute this grant would be unacceptable," she said.

"However, it is important to recognise that although we have been given this grant this year, there is no guarantee that we will get it next year and that could have important implications for us and towns and parishes."

Cllr Murphy said he believed the district was morally bound to pass the grant on as it had previously said it would do so.

And he urged towns and parishes to look at raising precepts while they were not subject to any capping restrictions.

"This may be their last chance to do it," he said.

Councillors also agreed a series of changes arising from the Council Tax reforms - although more than a third of members were unable to take part or vote on the issue after declaring pecuniary interests as owners of second homes or properties rented out.