Council tax is a charge made by your local authority to cover services which they provide for you. It applies to England, Scotland and Wales. The amount of council tax that you must pay varies from authority to authority but all assessments are based on the property band that applies to your home.
Each dwelling in Great Britain is given a valuation then placed on a valuation list in one of eight broad valuation bands, starting with the lowest, band A to the highest, band H (A to I in Wales). The band that applies to your dwelling will be written on your council tax bill.
There is no council tax in Northern Ireland, which still has a rating system. You can find out more about this from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive website at www.nihe.gov.uk/housing_benefit/ and the Land and Property Services website at www.lpsni.gov.uk/.
The Scottish Government proposes abolishing council tax in Scotland and replacing it with a local income tax.
If you are liable to pay council tax you may be able to reduce the amount that you have to pay by claiming council tax benefit, a discount, a reduction for disability or an exemption.
You can get two types of benefit.
You also have to pass the habitual residence test and have a right to reside to get either of these benefits.
Your main council tax benefit may be affected if you have any other adults living with you apart from your partner.
Note: The Government has announced that it will change the name of council tax benefit to council tax rebate as part of the campaign to encourage pensioners to claim the help they are entitled to.
The term "right to reside" is not defined but is dependent on your immigration status and nationality. You might have a right to reside under United Kingdom rules, EC law or because you are a British citizen.
The habitual residence test is a test to see if you normally live in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Republic of Ireland or the Isle of Man). The test will be applied if you have been living abroad.
There is no legal definition of 'habitual residence'. Relevant factors are where you normally live, where you expect to live in future, your reasons for coming to this country, the length of time spent abroad before you came here, and any ties you still have with the country where you have come from.
However, the test should not be applied if someone:
If these do not apply, a Decision Maker (DM) will decide whether you are habitually resident or not. Get advice if you fail this test.
You can claim both types of council tax benefit at the same time as you claim income support, income-related employment support allowance or income-based jobseeker's allowance.
If you are not claiming these benefits you can claim by phoning your local authority.
You can also claim from your local authority using their claim form.
The amount you get will vary depending on your circumstances. Council tax benefit assessments are divided into two parts.
You can view the current benefit rates on our website at www.disabilityalliance.org/benrate.htm.
Your main council tax benefit will be affected if you have a non-dependant living with you.
A non-dependant is someone who is over 18 who is not your partner or a:
Any adult son or daughter is considered to be a non-dependant.
A deduction is made to your maximum main council tax benefit for each non-dependant who lives with you. The amount of any deduction depends on the non-dependant's income. If they are under 25 and on income support, income related employment and support allowance, income-based job seeker's allowance (JSA), or if they are a full-time student, then no deduction is made.
Non-dependant deductions are not made if you or your partner is registered blind or receives the DLA care component or Attendance Allowance.
These are paid to you for the people in your household. The amounts paid depend on your age, whether you are single, a lone parent, part of a couple (whether married or living together or a civil partner) or have children.
Your household includes your partner and any dependent child or qualifying young person living with you.
You may get the following personal allowances:
single and under 25 – £50.95
single and age 25 and over – £64.30
single and entitled to main phase employment and support allowance - £64.30
lone parents age 18 and over - £64.30
a lone parent entitled to main phase employment and support allowance - £64.30
single age 60 to 64 - £130.00
single age 65 and over - £150.40
couples age 18 and over - £100.95
couples age 60 to 64 - £198.45
couples age 65 and over - £225.50
You will also get £56.11 for each dependent child or qualifying young person living with you.
A dependent child is a child under age 16. A qualifying young person is some one who is under 20 and either in full-time non-advanced education or approved training which began before he or she was 19.
You will also get an additional allowance if you are claiming employment and support allowance (see Factsheet F31 - employment and support allowance overview). This will be:
If you are in the work-related activity group - £25.50
If you are in the support group - £30.85
You can get extra amounts in the form of premiums if you satisfy certain conditions.
You can get any or all of the following premiums if you satisfy the rules for them:
carer premium
disabled child premium
enhanced disability premium
family premium
severe disability premium
In addition to these premiums you can get one of the premiums listed below. If you qualify for two of the premiums on this list you will get the one which pays you the most. The list starts from the lowest paying to the highest:
family premium lone parent rate
disability premium
You or you partner must be entitled to carer's allowance, even if you are not actually paid it because you receive another benefit. This premium is payable for each person who qualifies.
You must be under age 60 and one of the following applies to you or your partner:
If you have a partner you will be paid a higher couple rate of this premium.
You cannot get this premium if you are getting employment and support allowance and have a limited capability for work.
You must have a dependent child or qualifying young person under age 20 who is getting disability living allowance or who is registered blind. The premium is paid for each child who qualifies.
You or your partner must satisfy one of the following:
If you have a partner you will be paid a higher couple rate of this premium.
You must have a dependent child or qualifying young person under age 20. If you have a child under the age of one you will get an additional amount.
Family premium lone parent rate
This premium is paid instead of ordinary family premium. You can get it if you claimed council tax benefit before 6.4.98.
You or your partner must satisfy all of the following:
There is a couple rate if both of you qualify.
You cannot get council tax benefit (CTB) if your capital or savings (or you and your partner's capital or savings) is above £16,000. Your CTB will be affected if your capital or savings (or you and your partner's capital or savings) is above £6,000.
There is no upper savings limit if you are getting pension credit guarantee credit and claiming council tax benefit.
Since 2 November 2009, the lower capital disregard limit for people old enough to qualify for pension credit has been raised from £6000 to £10,000.
If your capital is between the lower and upper limits, a ‘tariff income’ is assumed. One pound a week for every £250 (or part of £250) above the lower limit is included as your income.
For example, if you have capital of between £6,250.01 and £6,500, £2 a week is included as your income. Each time capital gets into the next block of £250 (even by as little as one penny) an additional £1 is included as income.
If you or your partner are aged 60 or over and you are getting council tax benefit and not claiming income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance your assumed tariff income is one pound a week for every £500 (or part of £500) above the lower limit.
Some of your earnings are not taken into account when working out main council benefit. This is normally £5 if you are single or £10 if you have a partner. You will have £20 of your earnings disregarded if you qualify for the disability premium or the carer premium. You will have £25 of your earnings disregarded if you are a lone parent.
Some benefits are not taken into account when working out means tested benefits. These include attendance allowance, child benefit and disability living allowance.
Your council tax benefit can continue at your old rate for four weeks if you find work and you were getting :
To get council tax benefit extended payments you must have been on one of the above benefits for at least 26 weeks and your job must be expected to last at least 5 weeks. You do not need to make a claim to receive extended payments.
If the second adult:
If you are a student and the second adult:
A normal council tax bill assumes two occupiers. 50% of any charge is for the property itself and 50% is for these two occupiers.
You can get a discount of 25% off your bill if you are the only person living in your home or if all the other occupiers are disregarded for council tax purposes. You can get a 50% discount off your bill if you and all the other occupiers are disregarded for council tax purposes.
Those who are disregarded include:
In England and Scotland , local authorities have the power to reduce the discount offered on furnished second homes from 50% to just 10%. In Wales, authorities have discretion to reduce the discount below 50% or to offer no discount at all.
Local authorities also have the power to reduce or remove completely the discount offered on long-term empty properties that are substantially unfurnished.
Contact your local authority.
If your application for a discount is refused you can appeal to your local authority. There is no time limit for making this appeal.
If this is refused you have a further right of appeal to a Valuation Tribunal in England or Wales or a Valuation Appeal Committee in Scotland. This must be done within two months of receiving the decision.
You can get a reduction on your bill if you or someone in the home is substantially and permanently disabled and one of the following applies:
If any of these apply, the bill for your dwelling is reduced to the next lowest band. If you are already in a Band A property, and get a disability reduction, you will have your bill reduced by one sixth.
Disability reductions are available in all types of dwellings, including care homes and hostels.
In Scotland, the council water charge can also be reduced under this scheme.
There is no time limit for backdating this reduction.
There have been a number of recent court decisions affecting the disability reduction scheme. You can view summaries of these and the full decisions on our case law page at www.disabilityalliance.org/caselaw.htm.
If your application for a discount is refused you can appeal to your local authority. There is no time limit for making this appeal.
If this is refused you have a further right of appeal to a Valuation Tribunal in England or Wales or a Valuation Appeal Committee in Scotland. This must be done within two months of receiving the decision.
Contact your local authority.
Your property may be exempt from council tax charges altogether. Exemptions include:
If you are a full time student you do not normally have to pay council tax. If you have a non-student partner, although you are not liable to pay council tax, your partner is. He or she may be able to get council tax benefit for both of you or a discount.
If you live in a property which is wholly occupied by students (including students temporarily absent from their course) the property is exempt from council tax. You also do not have to pay council tax if you live in a student hall of residence.
If you share a property with non-students the non-students will be liable to pay council tax but you will not. For those non-students who do have to pay you are disregarded for council tax discount purposes (see the section on council tax discounts above).
The only situation where you might be liable to pay council tax as a student is if you live with non students and you are "higher in the hierarchy of liability" than they are, for example if you are the owner of the property or the only person named on a tenancy agreement.
If this is the case you may still be able to get help in the form of a discount or council tax benefit. You can get main council tax benefit as a student if you:
You may also be able to get second adult rebate if you are liable to pay council tax - see section 2.1.8 How much is second adult rebate?
You can get help at a local advice centre, such as a citizen's advice bureau. You can get more information about this from our factsheet F15, Finding a local advice centre, which is available at www.disabilityalliance.org/f15.htm.
You can find out more information about council tax benefits and discounts in Disability Alliance's "Disability Rights Handbook", available to buy at www.disabilityalliance.org/drh35.htm.
You can obtain copies of our factsheets by contacting Disability Alliance on 020 7247 8776 (voice and minicom) or by fax on 020 7247 8765.
If you want to search the web try going to www.direct.gov.uk and searching for information on council tax. Your local authority may also provide information about council tax on its own website.
www.disabilityalliance.org - 2 March 2010
