More than two million working-age council tax benefit (CTB) claimants face having to pay local taxes to cover a £500m cash cut, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned.

Under the Government's CTB rules - contained in the local government finance Bill, which today receives its second reading in the House of Lords - some 2.2 million pensioners and around 1.7 million families with children would be protected from reforms desimged to cut the cost of the benefit.