Council Tax Support for working age residents

From 1st April 2021 Council Tax Support will be assessed using a banded income scheme.

This change offers residents on low incomes up to 100% towards their Council Tax bill. We are one of only 40 councils in the country where residents are able to claim 100% support towards their Council Tax.

Claims are based on a maximum of 2 children and we no longer apply any non-dependant deductions.

If you are eligible for a discount (CTS) the amount of support you are entitled to is used to reduce your overall Council Tax bill.

We will send you a new bill after the discount has been applied with the reduced instalments you need to pay.

You can get Council Tax Support whether you are in work or self employed, claim benefits like income support,  Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC).

How we calculate your discount

If you claim Universal Credit

Your UC award is treated as your net income for the purposes of our CTS banded scheme.

The following UC elements will not count as part of your net income. 

• UC Housing element
• Carer element
• Disabled child element

If you are in work

Our scheme uses net weekly income and the status of your household to set an income band. Your net earnings is the money you have after National Insurance and tax has been taken.

We also include any other income such as:

• State benefits
• Work pensions
• Income from savings/capital

We disregard the following benefits when we calculate your discount

• Any disability benefits
• Carers allowance
• The support component if ESA
• Child Benefit
• Child maintenance payments

We also apply a standard £25 earnings disregard for all eligible claims.

We also do not count 50% of any pension contributions you make. 

All war pensions and war disablement pensions will be disregarded as income for both working age and pension age residents.

Capital

The amount of capital you can have is no more than £6000. If you or your household have more than £6000 you will not be able to claim Council Tax Support.

Discount Band Table

The income band that applies to your circumstances decides the % of discount you will get towards your bill.

How to apply

To apply please complete our application form below.

You will need to provide details about your household so we advise you gather the following information before starting the form.

• Personal details for all members of your household e.g. National insurance numbers, dates of birth.

• Financial information about any income, benefits, disability benefits and savings for each member of your household.

Any supporting evidence can be uploaded inside your application form.

You can save your form and return to it later if you need to.

When you save your application we will email you a reference number and password to access your saved form.

This saved version of your form will be available for 30 days.
Please note your form will need to be fully submitted before we can process your application.

The date you submit your form is the date we will receive it.

Apply for Council Tax Support

Policy Document

For more details see our Council Tax Support Scheme document.

Further support

If you already claim Council Tax Support and need further help paying your Council Tax bill you can apply for our Council Tax hardship scheme. This scheme is in place to help residents who find themselves facing unprecedented financial crisis or hardship.

You can find more information about our Council Tax Hardship scheme and how to apply by visiting our Council Tax hardship scheme page.