Support with council tax

What is used to work out council tax support?

What will you use to work out my council tax support?

When we work out your council tax support we take into account a number of things such as:

  • the age, health, income and capital for you and your partner if you have one

  • your Applicable Amount (we will tell you more about this later in this booklet)
  • any dependant children that live with you
  • the age and income of any non-dependants that live with you (non dependants are explained in more detail later in this booklet)
  • the council tax you pay

What savings are taken into account?

We need to know about all of your savings and investments. This includes things like Shares, National Savings Certificates, Investment Plans and any other properties you own. You need to tell us about all Bank or Building Society accounts that you have even if they don’t have any money in them or you only use them to have benefits or wages paid into them.

If you have savings or investments worth £16,000 or more, and you are not claiming Guarantee Pension Credit, you are not entitled to council tax support.

  • For working age claimants we ignore any savings up to £6000 and for every £250 or part of £250 that you have over £6000, we add £1 a week to your income.
  • For claimants who are pensionable age we ignore any savings up to £10,000, but for every £500 or part of £500 that you have over £10,000, we add £1 a week to your income

What expenses are taken into account?

We can take into account some expenses such as deducting 50% of pension contributions if you work. If you are working or considered to be in remunerative work we can take into account child care costs if you use registered childcare.

What is a non-dependant?

We call any adult who lives in your household but is not your partner, a ‘non-dependant’. We normally deduct some of your benefit for each non-dependant who lives with you. This is called a non-dependant deduction. There are two sets of rates of deductions, one for working age claimants and one for pensionable age claimants. The amount that we take off depends upon the income and age of the non-dependant.

We won’t make any deduction for a non-dependant if you are blind; receive the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Attendance Allowance (AA), Personal Independence Payments (PIP) or Armed Forces Independence Payments (AFIP)