Entitled To Council Tax Discount If On DLA?

Associate

Hi all,

I thought I heard somewhere that if you are on Disability Living Allowance, you may be entitled to a Council Tax discount. As my mum is on DLA, I gave the C Tax Benefit Dept (T Hamlets, London) a ring and asked them. They told me that because my mum doesn't live alone, she doesn't qualify for a discount.

Can someone please confirm this is right?


Thank you.

Regards,

Jay

qwertyuiop12345

Hi, I don't think you can get a council tax discount because of being on DLA - I am on the higher rate of both components and don't get any discount.

However there is something called the disabled band reduction scheme. This applies if you need to live in a bigger home for reasons of disability (eg. in order to use an electric wheelchair at home perhaps?). If you qualify for this scheme you only have to pay for the band that you could otherwise live in if you were healthy.

So, for example, if you live in a Band D flat and can prove you need to directly because of disability, then you might only have to pay the Band C cost instead.

Edit: I have just remembered, I think you can get a discount if you are severely mentally impaired. So if your mum gets DLA because of severe mental impairment there may well be a discount available for her.

GlasweJen

I think i read somewhere that if you live with a full time carer (who you are not related to) you can claim the single persons rate of council tax.

Limana68

Hi there
I have just managed to get our council tax band reduced, so instead of it being a band c, its now a band b. This is because we had to have adaptions to our home for my elderly disbled mother i e a new downstairs wetroom for her use.
Also because me and my hubby both care for her and she is on huigh rate attendance allowance ( it could be high rate care & mobility DLAfor under 65), we are discounted for the council tax, and also anyone under 18 is too ( my 2 kids) so my mum is the only person who ''qualifies'' for the council tax so I belive its a 25% reduction for our bill, just waiitng to fill out the form.
If she was mentally impaired she would get a 50% discount but she isnt .
It all depends on your own council though, so i would give them a ring and get the froms in if you think you may qualify

Li

allydowd

You'll find details on the Council Tax reductions here direct from the government's website:

DirectGov link

Libby82

Hi,

I work in council tax (I know... booo!!) and there are a number of discounts and disregards available, one of which is a disabled band reduction (e.g. if your house is a band D you'll pay the charges for a band C) to qualify generally you need to meet one of the criteria:

Room predominantly used and required for meeting the needs of the disabled person?
SECOND bathroom required for meeting the needs of the disabled person?
SECOND kitchen required for meeting the needs of the disabled person?
Wheelchair used INDOORS by the disabled person?

There is also an SMI disregard which for my council we just require the person's GP to sign a form to confirm in their opinion the person is severely mentally impared and it's permanent

There is also a carer's disregard for which you need to meet a few of the critera (none spring to mind)

If you think you're entitled to them, then apply!!
My husband is on DLA but unfortunately we dont meet any of the critera so we're stuck paying a full charge!

Hope thats of some help, if anyone has any questions I'll try my best to answer!