An update has been given on how the distribution of the government's council tax rebate is going in in Cornwall.

The government previously announced that payments of £150 will be provided to households living in council tax bands A-D to help in the cost of living crisis, and will not need to be paid back.

Councillor Harris, cabinet member on Cornwall Council responsible for resources, said earlier this week: "I am pleased to say that Cornwall Council has already distributed a significant amount of the funds made available from the Government for this council tax rebate.

"In the first instance, these payments are being made to people who pay their council tax by direct debit, as we hold their details and are able to process them relatively quickly.

"In Cornwall I can confirm that there are 159,000 eligible households who pay by direct debit, and of these 149,000 were sent out in the past week. The system that makes the payments has requested more information on the remaining 10,000, which we will gather next week and pay as soon as we have it.

All eligible tax payers should now have received their rebate, or been contacted about what to do next.

"If not on direct debit, eligible households will get an email, where we hold details, or a letter from us asking them to either fill in online form or to telephone in to provide bank detail.

"Our aim is that once we have all the correct details, we will pay the remaining eligible households by May 14, all eligible households not already paid will have had some sort of communication from us explaining what to do next," added Mr Harris.

He continued: "I am pleased to also confirm that we have been told Cornwall Council is the second most efficient authority nationally in paying this rebate via this method, having paid most of ours already, while some other local authorities won't get around to it until September."

The council will only contact people about this by letter or email. Please be aware of potential scammers.