WILTSHIRE Council announced that no struggling resident or business in the area it covers will have to pay council tax or business rates until June.

Any person or company wishing to defer paying their council tax in April and May 2020, instead of the normal scheduled payment break in February and March 2021, can contact Wiltshire Council and this will be arranged.

The council will freeze direct debit payments so people do not need to contact their bank to arrange.

It stressed that the two-month deferral is only available to people living in the Wiltshire Council local authority area, and that anybody living in Swindon should contact their own borough council with similar requests for help.

Call 0300 456 0109 or email counciltax@wiltshire.gov.uk to request the deferral. These will be taken at face value and there will be no vetting of anyone wishing to defer payments.

For those who choose to defer, payments will resume in June and will be taken over the 10 months from June 2020 to March 2021. For those that pay annually, they can still do so online. Those that make manual payments can also continue to do this if they want but they will need to contact the council if they want the April and May payment break.

Working-age residents who benefit from the current council tax support scheme will receive an additional reduction to their bill in line with the government's hardship fund criteria. Those households eligible for this reduction will automatically be re-billed.

Leader of Wiltshire Council Coun Philip Whitehead said: "We hope during this uncertain and difficult time this will help people and ease the pressure.

"We're all in this together and I've been so impressed by the response of our communities, and we'll continue to do what we can to provide support and reassurance."