Claiming benefits and Armed Forces 18 August 2010 at 7:04AM in UK armed forces MoneySaving 29 replies 3.8K views

Bluetube

Hi All,

My OH is serving and we recently found that we are entitled to full housing benefit and a full discount on council tax. I assume that with the housing benefit we just fill in the forms at the council offices, but council tax is a bit different. I have followed the threads about Ops and CILOCT but I wondered if anyone has claimed for a full discount? if so who do we need to go to. Any advice would be great. Particularly from anyone who has tried to claim either.

Thanks in advance

spinks

I am not sure of any reason you would be entitled to full housing beenfit or council tax discount.

You say you recently found that you are entitled to these so can the people you found this information from not advise you?

helsee

theres no way a serving family is entitled to full housing benefit.......surely? Are you in MQ?

EmmEve

I can't imagine anyone serving would have a low enough wage to be entitled to full housing and council tax benefit.

CILOCT is only be relevent to those in MQ's and is processed automatically along with their tax NI etc so no there is no need to 'claim' the reduction. The refund when on ops is also done automatically for those in MQ's.

dome

The council tax discount is 50% and its because all service persons pay CILOCT(Charge in Lieu of Council Tax). This applies if in MQ or SLA. I can 100% confirm this as I do it.

I got the info about 2 years ago off of moneysavingexpert site, so it is about but all my links and history are a long time gone.

dome

Andy_L

dome wrote: »

The council tax discount is 50% and its because all service persons pay CILOCT(Charge in Lieu of Council Tax). This applies if in MQ or SLA. I can 100% confirm this as I do it.

eh? If you're in MQ/SLA you don't pay council tax at all - you pay CILOCT, the clue being in the "Charge in lieu of council tax" name

dome

Andy_L wrote: »

eh? If you're in MQ/SLA you don't pay council tax at all - you pay CILOCT, the clue being in the "Charge in lieu of council tax" name

is that not what i wrote?

Starrystarrynight

The original post doesn't really make it clear whether they live in MQs or their own house. Even still, a Pte just out of training and renting their own property would be earning too much for LHA, I would think. Housing benefit is for council house tenants, I believe.

helsee

dome wrote: »

The council tax discount is 50% and its because all service persons pay CILOCT(Charge in Lieu of Council Tax). This applies if in MQ or SLA. I can 100% confirm this as I do it.

I got the info about 2 years ago off of moneysavingexpert site, so it is about but all my links and history are a long time gone.

dome

so im in mq's now am i effectively paying half the council tax of civvi households in the same area? the CILOCT i pay is with a reduction already? just curious as to how it works never really thought about it before!

helsee

BLT wrote: »

Go for it, I can't imagine its a lot of fun working in the housing offices, and when you go in to try and claim housing benefit on the 120 pounds a month you pay for your MQ it should give them a good chuckle :rotfl:

wouldnt it actually depend on income rather than how much the rent is as to wether someone would be entitled though? so how cheap or not quarters are isnt really he issue.

CIS

The council tax discount is 50% and its because all service persons pay CILOCT(Charge in Lieu of Council Tax). This applies if in MQ or SLA. I can 100% confirm this as I do it.

A 50% discount applies to a second home where you need to have that home in order to undertake your job and you need to be liable for the council tax on both properties (CILOCT is not council tax).

Wales was looking counting CILOCT as council tax for discount purposes but I dont know if they introduced it or not.