Carers Council Tax Disregard

pastelbelle95

Hello hope you are all well!

Just a quick post to just ask?

Just a general question out of my own curiosity,
Why is a friend who's a carer disregarded from council tax but not a partner who is a carer is not disregarded from council tax?

poppy12345

Because it's their partner. I claim the disregard because i care for my daughter (over 18) but she has no choice to live with me because she wouldn't be able to live alone without a lot of support.

pastelbelle95

poppy12345 said:

Because it's their partner. I claim the disregard because i care for my daughter (over 18) but she has no choice to live with me because she wouldn't be able to live alone without a lot of support.

Thanks so much, but what if a partner moves in to be a carer because it's not really a choice due to someone's disability.

poppy12345

pastelbelle95 said:

poppy12345 said:

Because it's their partner. I claim the disregard because i care for my daughter (over 18) but she has no choice to live with me because she wouldn't be able to live alone without a lot of support.

Thanks so much, but what if a partner moves in to be a carer because it's not really a choice due to someone's disability.

It makes no difference because they are still your partner.

Albermarle

If you can both prove you are carers, then you should be able to both be disregarded for council tax. I think that you have to spend a minimum of 35 hours each in a caring role, and maybe have some confirmation from your GP/social worker.

Only caveat is that I am not sure of the situation where someone moves in, who is not a spouse and not the child's father, but I would not think this would cause a problem. From previous posts on the subject you might find the contact at your local council will not be up to speed on the issue, as it is not commonly known that two carers can be disregarded.

Even if everyone in the household is disregarded you still have to pay 50% of course.

poppy12345

Albermarle said:

If you can both prove you are carers, then you should be able to both be disregarded for council tax.

Not if they are caring for a partner because they can't claim the disregard.

JIL

It doesn't seem fair to me. My father in law cares for his wife, she has dementia  she doesn't recognise him as her husband.  The relationship the once had as partners has long since gone. It's so very sad.

I sorted out a claim to attendance allowance for my mil. This was reported to the local authority who have increased their council tax payments for the year!!  

poppy12345

JIL said:

It doesn't seem fair to me. My father in law cares for his wife, she has dementia  she doesn't recognise him as her husband.  The relationship the once had as partners has long since gone. It's so very sad.

I sorted out a claim to attendance allowance for my mil. This was reported to the local authority who have increased their council tax payments for the year!!  

Council tax reduction is completely different to the carers disregard. However, AA isn't means tested so this shouldn't have been included in the calculation.

They should use a benefits calculator to check entitlement for Pension Credit, providing they are both state pension age. Your FIL could claim Carers Allowance providing he doesn't work and earn more than £132 per week.

If he's state pension age then he won't receive any money from carers allowance if his state pension is more than £69.70 per week but he'll have an underlying entitlement to it. This could mean they are entitled to some Pension Credit (depending on their Income) even if there's just £1 enetitlement to PC it will mean they'll be entitled to 100% council tax reduction.

Albermarle

poppy12345 said:

Albermarle said:

If you can both prove you are carers, then you should be able to both be disregarded for council tax.

Not if they are caring for a partner because they can't claim the disregard.

The OP did not give the impression that one partner was caring for the other, but that they were both caring for the same person, although it was not 100% clear. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Albermarle said:

poppy12345 said:

Albermarle said:

If you can both prove you are carers, then you should be able to both be disregarded for council tax.

Not if they are caring for a partner because they can't claim the disregard.

The OP did not give the impression that one partner was caring for the other, but that they were both caring for the same person, although it was not 100% clear. 

I actually thought it was a question about policy, why a carer's relationship to the caree was taken into account.  Turns out the carer in question is a spouse so treated differently from how they would have been treated if they were unrelated.

poppy12345

Albermarle said:

poppy12345 said:

Albermarle said:

If you can both prove you are carers, then you should be able to both be disregarded for council tax.

Not if they are caring for a partner because they can't claim the disregard.

The OP did not give the impression that one partner was caring for the other, but that they were both caring for the same person, although it was not 100% clear. 

The question was was quite clear to me that it was about a partner not being able to claim the carers disregard.

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Albermarle said:

poppy12345 said:

Albermarle said:

If you can both prove you are carers, then you should be able to both be disregarded for council tax.

Not if they are caring for a partner because they can't claim the disregard.

The OP did not give the impression that one partner was caring for the other, but that they were both caring for the same person, although it was not 100% clear. 

  Turns out the carer in question is a spouse so treated differently from how they would have been treated if they were unrelated.

That's not quite correct. Two people who are related can claim the carers disregard because i claim it for looking after my adult daughter. It's a spouse that can't claim it for looking after their partner.