Council Tax Benefit. Help Needed!

vince_moaloka

Hello there moneysavers,

My girlfriend is on income support and in receipt of council tax benefit. I am a full time student in receipt of a bursary of around £16'000 per year. Having recenlty moved in together, my girlfriend informed the local authority (Swansea) of the change in her circumstances. They now want to treat my income as her income and are trying to withdraw her benefits.

My question is: Seeing as I am a student and exempt from payment of council tax, can they use my non-taxable income to remove her benefit?

The people at the LA don't really seem to understand the situation and have frankly been quite rude to us. I've tried to read the guidelines (google "council tax benefit regulations 2006") but they have given me a headache!!

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Many thanks,

Matt

dmg24

Yes, they can. Non taxable income does not mean that it is not counted for benefits purposes. You didn't really expect to be able to claim your bursary plus income support, did you?

Indie_Kid

Any income (apart from certain amounts and certain types) are counted from student finance.

Jowo_2

For CT bills, you may find this leaflet handy.

http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/ctax/ctaxbillguide.pdf

Indie_Kid

That makes no difference.

dmg24

Jowo wrote: »

For CT bills, you may find this leaflet handy.

http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/ctax/ctaxbillguide.pdf

The OP is asking about Council Tax Benefit, not exemptions. The leaflet does not deal with how bursaries are treated for benefit purposes.

Oldernotwiser

Even Student Loans are counted as income for means tested benefits, much less a bursary of 16,000!

fluffymovie

If you are a full time student, your partner will be entitled to a Single Person Discount meaning that you will only pay 75% of the bill for the year or as long as you are studying.

A bursary is treated as income, as would any loan you would be entitled to claim even if you choose not to take it.

As your claim is that for a household, then both your incomes have to be included.

It isn't a case of trying to withdraw her benefit but rather that the LA need to assess the claim for the household using all the income available to the household to pay the bill.

Unfortuanately, if you have a bursary, you will need to use some of it to help out with the Ctax as you are receiving a student exemption against the property and not against the person if that makes sense?