Can anyone confirm this please about Council Tax Discounts?

KatrinaWaves

You can say no as you are not eligible for UC.

this may mean you are not entitled to any council tax support as many apply the same criteria as UC. 

poppy12345

You actually receive more per week with your wifes pension and state pension than you would if you just claimed the UC alone. If you were just claiming UC then it would be just £594.04 per month, which would decrease by approx £80 in April 2021 when the standard allowance goes back to the normal amount.

KatrinaWaves

garyandlynn said:

I have tried to do that but when filling in the form it says if you are getting UC you can't claim for council tax support? Strange thing is when I first got UC (which we don't actually get as they take it off us as my wife has state and a work pension). We got a reduction from the council and I thought great I could pay that but a week later that got cancelled with no reason?

You have misread the form, I have just looked at it:

“Please Note: If you are receiving Universal Credit, your Housing Benefit entitlement will not be calculated and a Housing Benefit claim will not be accepted because housing costs are already included in Universal Credit. However, you can still claim for Council Tax Support using this system.“

garyandlynn

What I mean is if I put a claim in do I say I am getting UC or not when it asks me? Otherwise how can I claim Council Tax support? I didn't see the sentence "However, you can still claim for Council Tax Support using this system".?

calcotti

Your income is more than twice what the government think you need to live on which is why no UC is payable. You may disagree with the government but that is not the issue.

As Katrina says it appears you have misread the information on Blackpool website. It is clear that you can apply.

https://blackpoolclaims.teamnetsol.com/. You should apply. I think you will be entitled to Council Tax Reduction to pay about a third of your bill. The sentence Katrina quotes comes 4 or 5 screens into the claim process after you have put the initial information in.

Where did you read that you cannot claim? I asked earlier if you could quote what you read but you have not done so.

Incidentally the reason the deductions on UC do not appear match what your wife is getting each month is that her State Pension is paid weekly or four weekly but UC has to convert this to a monthly amount. The figure used is 52 x the weekly amount / 12.

poppy12345

garyandlynn said:

I don't work and she doesnt work I did put an application in for JSA but not holding my breath as UC never said to me to claim it.

Whether you're entitled to this will depend on your NI contributions from working in tax years April 2017 to April 2019. If you haven't paid the correct amount then you won't be entitled to claim. If you've have paid the correct amount then it's paid for 26 weeks @ £74.35 per week.

calcotti

If you do get new style JSA you will need to tell the council because it will reduce any Council Tax Reduction.

garyandlynn

I think it was the page you mentioned it did say about "Please Note: If you are receiving Universal Credit, your Housing Benefit entitlement will not be calculated and a Housing Benefit claim will not be accepted because housing costs are already included in Universal Credit". I think I jumped the gun when I first read that bit, however i have followed the ladies advice and after filling everything out on the form including my payment details I have saved the application until I get some figures I need. I got as far as where it said I would be entitled to about £28 council tax and I would pay a further £0 so hopefully it will go through ok. Obviously I will let you know.

garyandlynn

Thank you all for your help so far.

calcotti

garyandlynn said:

I think it was the page you mentioned it did say about "Please Note: If you are receiving Universal Credit, your Housing Benefit entitlement will not be calculated and a Housing Benefit claim will not be accepted because housing costs are already included in Universal Credit". I think I jumped the gun when I first read that bit, however i have followed the ladies advice and after filling everything out on the form including my payment details I have saved the application until I get some figures I need. I got as far as where it said I would be entitled to about £28 council tax and I would pay a further £0 so hopefully it will go through ok. Obviously I will let you know.

Please double check that you have entered everything correctly. Based on the information you have posted about your wife’s state pension and occupational pension I would be very surprised if you were entitled to full Council Tax Support.

I have done a rough calculation using the Policy in Practice calculator and got Council Tax payable £28.43

Maximum amount of Council Tax liability eligible for support £28.43

Reduction due to income & savings £13.28

Remaining Council Tax Support £15.15

Addition due to COVID-19 £2.88

This would mean that you would have a remaining liability equivalent to £10.40/week. However if the council backdate the award and if your payments so far are based on 10 payments over the year you will have overpaid to date so there may be little or nothing left to pay this year. When you get an award you just need to check any calculation they send you to make sure the figures they have used are correct.