will I still receive council tax benefit.

Sweey_as_a_nut

I was having savings credit, owing to a occupational pension I receive. My wife died recently, and now I have found out they have stopped the savings credit.

I was having a council tax rebate. Now they have stooped pension credit, will the council tax also stop.

Savvy_Sue

Sorry for your loss.

Assuming you are the only adult left in the property, you will get a single person's discount on council tax. I would call in with the death certificate, if you can: when I took Dad's in they took a copy and sorted Mum's discount. The lady at the council explained it would take a while for the revised bill to go out, because they didn't rush it as they thought people would have other things to worry about, but Mum wasn't chased for arrears in that time and she hadn't payed the most recent month's bill which was due.

It may be also worth asking if there is anyone at the council who can check your benefits entitlement: your new situation may not have been correctly assessed when the savings credit stopped.

CIS

Assuming you are the only adult left in the property, you will get a single person's discount on council tax. I would call in with the death certificate, if you can

The council should already be aware she is dead if she died in the same registrars district as the council you live in. The registrars are required to send details to the council of any deaths.

That being said its never does any harm to prompt them.

moonrakerz

You don't have to PROVE you now live on your own - you just tell them !

Savvy_Sue

CIS wrote: »

The council should already be aware she is dead if she died in the same registrars district as the council you live in. The registrars are required to send details to the council of any deaths.

That being said its never does any harm to prompt them.

Well, they may be aware, but that doesn't mean they know how many adults are left in the house.

Dad died in a different registration district. Perhaps I didn't HAVE to take the death certificate, but I was certainly asked if I had it and it was copied. Might as well make life simple, IMO.

Sweey_as_a_nut

Thanks all.
They seem to have given me two benefits now that I did not receive when my wife was alive, namely, additional pension payable based on earnings and another called graduated pension. It still leaves me £11 worst off, that is of course in addition to my wife's pension.

moonrakerz

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Well, they may be aware, but that doesn't mean they know how many adults are left in the house.

Dad died in a different registration district. Perhaps I didn't HAVE to take the death certificate, but I was certainly asked if I had it and it was copied. Might as well make life simple, IMO.

This sort of thing disturbs me somewhat. As I said earlier, you do not have to prove anything. WHY they would want a copy of the Death Certificate totally escapes me - it is completely, utterly and totally irrelevant: just someone making unnecessary work - which the Council Tax payer has to fund.

When my mother died (in this house before me) I just said the house was now empty - I am just astounded that you were asked for a document that they had NO right to ask for !!

Savvy_Sue

moonrakerz wrote: »

This sort of thing disturbs me somewhat. As I said earlier, you do not have to prove anything. WHY they would want a copy of the Death Certificate totally escapes me - it is completely, utterly and totally irrelevant: just someone making unnecessary work - which the Council Tax payer has to fund.

When my mother died (in this house before me) I just said the house was now empty - I am just astounded that you were asked for a document that they had NO right to ask for !!

But presumably they have to have some kind of record of the information they were given, and by whom. Otherwise we could all go in and say "my mother's died, the house is empty now, no council tax due". They must have taken a note of who gave that information, and on what date.

In my case, they took a copy of the death certificate, I didn't fill in any forms, but that supported the notification.

And it didn't bother me to be asked for it.

moonrakerz

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

But presumably they have to have some kind of record of the information they were given, and by whom. Otherwise we could all go in and say "my mother's died, the house is empty now, no council tax due". They must have taken a note of who gave that information, and on what date.

In my case, they took a copy of the death certificate, I didn't fill in any forms, but that supported the notification.

And it didn't bother me to be asked for it.

There is NO requirement to tell your local Authority anything other that who IS living in a property. If someone dies or moves out, you tell them that the house is now empty or you are now on your own.
Someone said the Registrar tells the Council when someone dies - not so !
Surprisingly there are a FEW things left where people actually believe you when you tell them something. My car/house/cat/holiday insurer for a start.

Over the past few years the Government (and others) have had a mania for snooping and gathering data on everyone at huge cost. People are being brow-beaten into believing that this is vitally important - usually for "security" reasons.
(As an aside: I was recently stopped from leaving Morrison's by walking through the self checkout area - I was told it was a "security zone" !!!)

There is a prime example in the papers today: Anyone applying for a UK passport has to had to undergo a face to face interview - to make sure they were not Osama Bin Laden we were told. It was for our "safety".
The system cost £93m to set up, it costs £30M a year to run. In three years over half a million people have been interviewed - how many people have been refused a UK passport out of that half million ?

EIGHT - about £24 MILLION per person !! And those were probably due to "****-ups" by the Dept responsible.

GRRRR ! MY money and yours Sue................

Farway

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

But presumably they have to have some kind of record of the information they were given, and by whom. Otherwise we could all go in and say "my mother's died, the house is empty now, no council tax due". They must have taken a note of who gave that information, and on what date.

In my case, they took a copy of the death certificate, I didn't fill in any forms, but that supported the notification.

And it didn't bother me to be asked for it.

This must vary from district to district, I just informed the council my mother had died and bungalow was empty, that was it, council tax canceled for 6 months

No other documentation required apart from my letter

I'm in Hampshire, mother lived & died in Wiltshire if it makes any differance

PS I would not have been to fussed if they ahd asked for death cert, in fact I obtained 6 copies on registering death, just in case I had to send to every man & his dog

Antispam

Surely you have to notify them in your income changes or you have savings my council wont pay CT if you have over 6k in bank, this i assuming you already claiming

moonrakerz wrote: »

There is NO requirement to tell your local Authority anything other that who IS living in a property. If someone dies or moves out, you tell them that the house is now empty or you are now on your own.
Someone said the Registrar tells the Council when someone dies - not so !
Surprisingly there are a FEW things left where people actually believe you when you tell them something. My car/house/cat/holiday insurer for a start.

Over the past few years the Government (and others) have had a mania for snooping and gathering data on everyone at huge cost. People are being brow-beaten into believing that this is vitally important - usually for "security" reasons.
(As an aside: I was recently stopped from leaving Morrison's by walking through the self checkout area - I was told it was a "security zone" !!!)

There is a prime example in the papers today: Anyone applying for a UK passport has to had to undergo a face to face interview - to make sure they were not Osama Bin Laden we were told. It was for our "safety".
The system cost £93m to set up, it costs £30M a year to run. In three years over half a million people have been interviewed - how many people have been refused a UK passport out of that half million ?

EIGHT - about £24 MILLION per person !! And those were probably due to "****-ups" by the Dept responsible.

GRRRR ! MY money and yours Sue................