TINS of paint and brushes could be delivered to council tenants in a cash-cutting bid to change the way their homes are redecorated.

City of York Council is considering the makeover of the current voucher system in an attempt to save about £50,000 a year. The authority is also looking at reducing the amounts it pays out in “disturbance allowances” to tenants when workmen have to carry out improvements to their homes as it aims to reduce the “significant costs” linked to its stock of housing.

Vouchers for major DIY stores are currently provided to new tenants of properties which need redecorating when they move in and if their rooms are disturbed while being modernised through the Tenants Choice programme, with the amounts including £60 for a living room, dining room and kitchen and £55 for a bedroom.

The disturbance scheme means tenants can also receive payments equalling up to three weeks’ rent depending on the length of time the work on their homes takes. But the council is proposing to reduce this to two weeks because jobs are being finished quicker.

Officers have also suggested replacing the voucher system with “paint packs” which would be delivered to tenants’ doors offering a selection of 2,400 colours, as well as allowing them to choose wallpaper.

In 2009/10, the authority carried out improvements to 287 homes, with the cost of decoration vouchers running to £89,762 and disturbance allowances totalling £84,745.

A report by projects and Tenants Choice manager Andy Wilcock, which will go before the council’s executive member for neighbourhoods and housing, Coun Ann Reid, next week, said the changes would cut annual costs by about £50,000.