A scheme which includes the poorest families not having to pay their Tower Hamlets council tax is being expanded to more households.

The means-tested scheme means they don’t pay a penny, while the amount for others is base on what is “reasonable” for them to fork out.

Tower Hamlets is one of only nine London boroughs offering 100 per cent reduction for the poorest households.

“This makes our scheme one of the most generous in the country,” a town hall spokesman said. “The council has agreed that the scheme should now to help even more people, to reduce poverty in the East End.”

The scheme has helped tens-of-thousands of households since the national Council Tax Benefit scheme was shut down in 2013. It is helping 28,000 families this year alone with their council tax payments, including 8,000 pensioners and 20,000 working-age households.

The local authority is required by law to review the scheme every financial year or replace it.

But councillors agreed unanimously on Wednesday to keep it going at 100pc for the poorest households and to offer reductions to other low-income families based on what they can afford.