Council Tax reduction for disabled people

Keith585

This is already posted elsewhere, but I thought it might be appropriate here as well


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=533378&highlight=Council+Tax+reduction+for+disabled+people

Govt Guidance

We got a discount without doing any modifications, they also backdated it 3 years to when my wife had her accident - so if you apply now also ask for it to be back dated

smudger1946

To qualify for reduction, your home has to be fitted for disabled, i.e. wheelchair access, handrails special bathroom fittings ect.

johnsmiffy

We recently applied to our local council for this as our house had been adapted (extra showerroom) prior to us buying it. The OH is receiving DLA and has been since Oct 2006, but we didn't know that we could apply for the reduced band.

Last week the local council sent somebody to inspect the adaptations, we were told that we we qualified :j . When I asked how far back they could back-date the reduction, she told me that they usually give the reduction from the date on the initial application form, but may back date to the beginning of the financial year - but as we didn't know we could apply she would consult her boss to see if it could be backdated further.

Got revised bills a few days later - backdated to Oct 2006:j :j :j .

Now as we pay by monthly DDR only owe £80 instead of £450.

Go ahead apply if you can.

poppy_f1

smudger1946 wrote: »

To qualify for reduction, your home has to be fitted for disabled, i.e. wheelchair access, handrails special bathroom fittings ect.

my mum gets a reduction in her council tax but made no modifications to the house in order to get it

pr1nc3ss

I have two disabled children and havent bothered applying for a reduction because after looking at the forms they also said what smudger has posted. What other grounds may 'apply' for a reduction?

Keith585

pr1nc3ss wrote: »

I have two disabled children and havent bothered applying for a reduction because after looking at the forms they also said what smudger has posted. What other grounds may 'apply' for a reduction?

ALWAYS apply - the worst they can do is say no,
You do not have to have made any adaptations, so PLEASE contact them and apply

zzzLazyDaisy

Remember also that certain adaptations are zero rated for VAT - that can make a big difference in the overall price of an extension, or bathroom conversion, for example. But you cannot reclaim the VAT if you have already paid it, so you need to sort this out with the contractor, so they record the works as zero-rated and don't charge you VAT.

More info here.....

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/consumers-disabled.htm

Billobel

Thank you so much for this information. I have downloaded the relevant forms and shall be posting them off to the council a.s.a.p. It would be great to get the discount as the accident that I had that left my disabled was whilst I was working for the COUNCIL, and they found a lope hole in my contract to sack me as a result of the accident.

sharon59

I recently applied for a council tax reduction -got 25% -had a form to fill an get gp to fill to say SIL had disabiliy and was on top rate care/mobility so as l care for her 35hrs week we got it.cant get carers allowance so this is something!
Id say always apply -they can only say no but might say yes!!!

earthmother

We applied for this a couple of years back but were told we didn't qualify, although we had recently moved into a bungalow purely because of DHs disability, because he couldn't access the whole house in his wheelchair and/or there was no one room in the house purely for his use (for physio etc).

We're due to move again soon, hopefully to a SS adapted house, so we'll try again then - so thanks for reminding me about it, I'd forgotten to put it on my to do list.

mcspanna

I guess it's another disability-related scheme that probably varies from area to area. We managed to get it a couple of years ago; the assessor was here less than five minutes and was happy with the fact that we had a wooden ramp outside and one of us is a full-time wheelchair user. We also have a door in another part of the house which has been changed to open outwards rather than inwards for access but he insisted that he didn't need to see it (I suspect he was finishing for the day after seeing us!). If we'd had a real jobsworth of an assessor then according to the letter of the law we probably wouldn't have got it.

EDIT: Just realised that it's important to point out that there are actually 2 systems that apply to council tax.

The first which is the one I'm referring to in my original post is a council tax reduction for disabled people information on which is here whereas the other is a council tax reduction for carers information on which is here as far as I'm aware, you can only get one or the other.