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Severe Mentally Impaired person and Council Tax Reduction
catswhiskers4
Posts: 98 Forumite
Hi, we’ve just successfully applied for SMI person’s discount and been refunded for previous years. However, we have also been receiving Council Tax Reduction benefit for the past year. For this they’ve reduced it by the amount of the SMI. Is this correct? Ie we were saving about £600 a year with the reduction benefit and now we’re saving £300 a year on the reduction benefit and £300 for SMI. I have queried this with the council, but they’ve not responded so far!
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It's correct - the council tax reduction is calculated based on the net council tax charge - that is the full council tax charge less any discounts. If these figures change the CTR has to be re-calculated.I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.0
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It's correct - the council tax reduction is calculated based on the net council tax charge - that is the full council tax charge less any discounts. If these figures change the CTR has to be re-calculated.
Indeed - often the people getting the SMI exemption are already getting maximum CTR - relatives are often surprised when they get no money back!These are my own views and you should seek advice from your local Benefits Department or CAB.0 -
Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »Indeed - often the people getting the SMI exemption are already getting maximum CTR - relatives are often surprised when they get no money back!
Oh yes, the number of times I had those discussions over the years - also good when it's a band reduction and it was all paid by CTR/CTB or covered by exemption...I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.0 -
Oh yes, the number of times I had those discussions over the years - also good when it's a band reduction and it was all paid by CTR/CTB or covered by exemption...
Many of the 100,000 supposedly being 'overcharged' are already getting maximum help anyway.
We have Housing Associations who give their tenants 2 weeks free rent at Christmas - every year we have phone calls from claimants demanding their 2 weeks Christmas money. We explain very slowly they aren't charged rent so we don't pay any HB for 2 weeks. If they paid the rent and were not on benefits then yes they would have 2 weeks rent money to spend on Christmas.These are my own views and you should seek advice from your local Benefits Department or CAB.0 -
That's one of the issues I thought of as well - 100k is a good headline figure but it overlooks an awful lot of the actuality of the situation.Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »Many of the 100,000 supposedly being 'overcharged' are already getting maximum help anyway.
I allowed my esteemed colleagues to deal with these queries - HB was their issue (and certainly not mine when it came to anything awkward).We have Housing Associations who give their tenants 2 weeks free rent at Christmas - every year we have phone calls from claimants demanding their 2 weeks Christmas money. We explain very slowly they aren't charged rent so we don't pay any HB for 2 weeks. If they paid the rent and were not on benefits then yes they would have 2 weeks rent money to spend on Christmas.I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.0 -
That's one of the issues I thought of as well - 100k is a good headline figure but it overlooks an awful lot of the actuality of the situation.
I allowed my esteemed colleagues to deal with these queries - HB was their issue (and certainly not mine when it came to anything awkward).
We are a multi functional department - we do HB, CTAX and Business Rates!These are my own views and you should seek advice from your local Benefits Department or CAB.0 -
Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »We are a multi functional department - we do HB, CTAX and Business Rates!
The were attempts to do that as I was leaving but it was failing miserably due to lack of training for staff and attempts at making staff too general - I've done HB and Business Rates stuff (and could deal with most of it) but I usually never had the time to do so. In my experience getting staff to do everything puts too much pressure on people and just creates failure.I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.0
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