You can claim Council Tax Reduction if you are on a low income and pay Council Tax.
If you’ve ever wondered what Council Tax Reduction is and who can apply for it, these short videos explain along with details of how to apply.
You can get Council Tax Reduction in addition to other Council Tax Discounts
There are a few changes that have come into place from 1st April 2023, which are explained here.
If you are over pension age any support you receive will be based on the National Scheme. If you have capital over £16,000 you will not be entitled to any Council Tax Reduction unless you get Guarantee Pension Credit.
From The 1st April 2019 Council Tax Reduction, for customer of Working age , is based on a banded scheme. This means that depending on your income your household you will fall into a band that will mean that your Council Tax Reduction will be either 100%, 80%, 60%, 40% or 0% of your Council Tax. the details below show the income bands from 1.4.24.
| Band | % | Single | Couple | Family +1 | Family +2 |
| 1 | 100 | £0-£103.82 | £0–£153.32 | £0 – £214.90 | £0 – £275.25 |
| 2 | 80 | £103.83 – £165.38 | £153.33–£214.90 | £214.91–£275.25 | £275.26- £336.82 |
| 3 | 60 | £165.39-£226.97 | £214.91- £275.25 | £275.26-£336.82 | £336.83–£398.41 |
| 4 | 40 | £226.98–£289.75 | £275.26- £324.76 | £336.83- £398.41 | £398.42- £459.98 |
The following amount will be deducted from your income to obtain a net figure that will be used in the calculation.
- Earnings disregard £25.00
- Disabled Living allowance
- Personal independence payments
- Employment and support – support component or LCWRA element if you get Universal credit
- Disability premium
- Enhanced disability premium
- Severe Disability premium
- Disabled child premium
- Carers allowance or Carers Element if you get Universal credit
- Child Benefit
- Child maintenance
- Childcare costs (conditions apply)
- War Pensions
There are non deductions for non dependants living with you.
If you are claiming Universal credit we will take into account the Standard element, the Child element and the Limited capability for work element. We will also take into account any unearned and earned income Universal Credit tell us about. We will deduct £25.00 from the earnings. As we will not take into account the Carer element and Childcare element we will not disregard Childcare costs of Carers allowance.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, if you are self-employed and have been trading for more than year, we will assume your weekly earnings are national living wage multiplied by 35 hours. If you are a lone parent we will assume earnings of national living wage multiplied by 16 hours.
If you or your partner, together or separately, have capital, savings and investments which add up to more than £6000 you will not be entitled to any support from the scheme. You will have to pay the full amount of Council Tax for your property.
When you use our online claim form we will provide you with a list of evidence we need when you have completed the claim.
If you do not have a printer please have a pen and paper ready to note down the documents we need and the reference number and password set up. If you are unsure about an answer to a specific question please view our online claim help page.
You can send us the evidence attached to an email to benefits@wealden.gov.uk or you can send them to Benefits Service, Wealden District Council, Vicarage Lane, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 2AX. If you post the evidence we will need to see original documents but we will send these back to you the day we receive them.
Awards will usually start from the day we receive your claim or the date that you first contact us to say you want to claim.
There are circumstances when we may ‘backdate’ your award.
If you would like us to consider your award to be backdated, you need to show that there was a good reason why you did not claim earlier.
This is an example of a “good reason” to backdate an award: You were seriously ill at the time you should have claimed and you claimed as soon as you were better. There was no-one else to help you claim.
This is an example that is not a “good reason” to backdate an award: You did not claim because you did not think you would qualify.
We will deal with each case individually and when we let you know our decision, we will tell you what to do if you disagree with it. There is a section in the application form for you to complete if you would like us to consider backdating your award.
Firstly, if you think we have worked out your benefit incorrectly or you disagree with the figures we have used, you can ask us to look at your claim again. When we tell you how much reduction you are awarded, we will give you more information about how to do this.
You can also request that your award is backdated if you disagree with the date we have made the award from. There are strict guidelines about this and you will need to show you have a good reason why you did not claim earlier.
If you are finding it difficult to pay your council tax instalments please contact the local taxation department on 01323 443385 to discuss this.
- Help for Households – Get Government cost of living support
- East Sussex County Council – Support with cost of living
- Benefits calculator– Find out what benefits you can claim
When we work out how much help you get we take into account the people who live with you, your income and capital and any rent you pay. You must therefore tell us if any of these details change. Examples of changes are:
- You start or stop working
- your working hours change
- your child leaves education
- your state benefits change
- your private/occupational pension changes
- some move in with you
- someone move out
- your rent changes
- you move
These are not the only changes just examples. If you are unsure if you should tell us about a change then tell us anyway.