Council Tax reduction

To qualify for Council Tax Reduction, you must be on a low income and responsible for paying Council Tax.

Find out if you’re responsible for paying Council Tax.

You can claim Council Tax Reduction even if you are:

• working
• unemployed
• disabled
• single
• married or in a civil partnership

Please note you may not be entitled to Council Tax Reduction if you:

• have come to live in the UK from abroad
• are a full time student
• live in residential care or a nursing home
• have savings over £16,000

How much benefit you get depends on your circumstances and how much Council Tax you’re due to pay. Use this benefits calculator to see what help you can get.

Entitlement examples

Below are two examples of entitlement calculations.

Couple Mr and Mrs Parker with three children

• Standard allowance equals £257.33
• Housing Element equals £450.00
• Child Element equals £519.58
• Disabled Child Element equals £0.00
• Childcare Element equals £0.00
• Carer Element equals £0.00
• Limited Capability for Work Element equals £0.00
• Total entitlement before deductions equals £1226.91

Deductions

• Net earning deducted after disregard and taper equals £228.25
• Advance payments equals £32.34
• Total deductions equals £260.59

Payment

Total payment for the month is £1266.91 minus £260.59 equals £966.32

Other income and capital/savings

• Child benefit of £50.70 per week
• Net earnings of £857.23 per month
• No savings or capital

Income calculation

• Universal Credit element of £519.58 times 12 divided by 52 equals £119.90 per week
• Earnings £857.23 times 12 divided by 52 equals £197.82 per week
• Less £10 per week earnings disregard equals £187.82 per week
• Total weekly income equals £307.72 per week

Applicable amount calculation

• Personal Allowance (couple rate) equals £121.05
• Child Allowance (3 times £88.50) equals £265.50
• Total equals £386.55

Council Tax Liability calculation

• Council tax liability equals £950.93 per year
• Sewerage equals £191.87 per year
• Water equals £165.27 per year
• Gross liability equals £1308.07 per year
• As water and sewerage cannot be included in Council Tax Reduction calculation net council tax liability for CTR equals £950.93 per year
• Weekly net Council Tax Liability for Council Tax Reduction purposes (£950.93 divided by 365 days times 7 days) equals £18.24*

A further weekly amount would be deducted, in certain circumstances, if Mr and Mrs Parker had someone over 18 living with them. This is called a "non-dependant deduction", it represents that individual's contribution towards the council tax bill and would reduce the amount Mr & Mrs Parker would be entitled to in terms of their maximum possible CTR award.

Single applicant Mr Wayne, over 25 years of age

• Standard allowance equals £324.84
• Housing Element equals £375.00
• Child Element equals £0.00
• Disabled Child Element equals £0.00
• Childcare Element equals £0.00
• Carer Element equals £0.00
• Limited Capability for Work Element equals £0.00
• Total entitlement before deductions equals £699.84

Deductions

• Net earning deducted after disregard and taper equals £205.75
• Advance payments equals £32.34
• Total deductions equals £238.09

Payment

Total payment for the month is £699.84 minus £238.09 equals £461.75

Other income and capital/savings

• Take home pay of £457.23 per month
• Universal Credit as detailed above
• No savings or capital

Income calculation

• Universal Credit element of £0.00 times 12 divided by 52 equals £0.00 per week
• Earnings £457.23 times 12 divided by 52 equals £105.51 per week
• Less £5 per week earnings disregard equals £100.51 per week
• Total weekly income equals £100.51 per week

Applicable amount calculation

• Personal Allowance (single person over 25 rate) equals £77.00
• Total equals £77.00

Council Tax Liability calculation

• Council tax liability equals £950.93 per year
• Discount (single person) equals £237.73 per year
• Sewerage equals £191.87 per year
• Water equals £165.27 per year
• Gross liability equals £1070.34 per year
• As water and sewerage cannot be included in Council Tax Reduction calculation net council tax liability for CTR equals £713.20 per year
• Weekly net Council Tax Liability for Council Tax Reduction purposes (£713.20 divided by 365 days times 7 days) equals £13.68*

A further weekly amount would be deducted, in certain circumstances, if Mr Wayne had someone over 18 living with him. This is called a "non-dependant deduction", it represents that individual's contribution towards the council tax bill and would reduce the amount Mr Wayne would be entitled to in terms of his maximum possible CTR award.

Council Tax Reduction calculation

• Total weekly income equals £100.51
• Less Applicable Amount equals £77.00
• Excess Income equals £23.51
• 20% of Excess Income equals £4.70

Mr Wayne is therefore expected to pay £4.70 per week towards his council tax and is entitled to the remainder of his weekly council tax liability as Council Tax Reduction - £8.98 per week. A council tax bill will be issued to Mr Wayne with £468.24 Council Tax Reduction included reducing his total liability and therefore his instalment amounts.

You can apply for relief from the increased charges which were introduced for properties in band E, F G and H on 1 April 2017. You may be entitled if your savings/capital is less than £16,000 and your average net income is less than:

• £321 per week (For single people with no children)
• £479 per week (for all other households)

You are not able to claim Council Tax Reduction and Band E to H Relief at the same time. When you apply, we will award the highest of the two reductions. You can apply for a reduction below.

You’ll need evidence to support your claim document.

For any other information, you can contact us.

Please note, if:

• you are married, in a civil partnership, or living with a partner, you can only make one claim for both of you
• you live with other people who share the cost of your rent and/or your Council Tax, your claim will only be calculated on your share of the rent or Council Tax
• you’re away from home for a period of time we may still be able to help

We’ll work out your Council Tax Reduction entitlement by looking at:

• all the money you and your partner have coming in – earnings, benefits, tax credits, pensions
• savings you and your partner have
• your circumstances

Notification of Council Tax Reduction (CTR) entitlement will appear on your Council Tax bill. To find out how the Council Tax Reduction has been calculated, call 01294 310000.

If you receive CTR, we may be able to pay you benefit for a previous period that you did not claim because of your circumstances. See our Backdated benefit claims page for details.

You may qualify for a Second Adult Rebate if you don’t get Council Tax Reduction because of your income, but live with an adult who:

• is on low income
• gets Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance
• doesn’t pay rent

A ‘second adult’ can be:

• an adult son or daughter
• a relative
• a friend
• a certain type of carer

A ‘second adult’ cannot be:

• a partner
• a tenant or boarder
• a joint tenant

You can only apply for this benefit if you don’t qualify for a single person discount.

You can apply for a rebate above.

If you are unhappy with the Council Tax reduction decision, we have made. You can, provided it is done within two months of that decision, ask for a review of the decision. This must be done in writing or online:

The review request must state the reasons why you think the decision is incorrect.

If you decide to request a review of council tax reduction in writing, please send it to:

North Ayrshire Council, Customer Services, PO BOX 7966, Irvine, KA12 8EG

A review will look at income and the amount that a person needs to live on (their applicable amount). This varies depending on the circumstances.

We must consider the request and reply with our decision in writing within two months.

Further review

If you remain unhappy after the appeal, you can get an independent ruling from the Local Taxation Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal. This is part of the Scottish Tribunal Service. They will conduct a further review.

A further review by the Local Taxation Chamber can only be requested after the relevant local authority has carried out an internal review.

The only exception to this is if you do not receive a written response within two months of writing and requesting a review. If this happens you can request, in writing, an independent ruling from the Local Taxation Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal.

They will consider the facts and give an independent ruling about whether the decision made by your local authority is correct or not.

An application for further review should be made in writing to:

Local Taxation Chamber, Bothwell House, First Floor, Hamilton Business Park, Caird Park, Hamilton, ML3 0QA

When notified by the Local Taxation Chamber of a further review the Local Authority will provide them with their decision on the review and the supporting documentation. This includes copies of:

• the notification of review to the applicant
• responses to that notice
• relevant extracts from the applicants Council Tax Reductions application
• summary of response to review
• any other supporting communications

The Local Authority will also forward a copy of the documentation they are submitting to the Local Taxation Chamber to the applicant, before the hearing.