Non-UK wife & single occupier discount uncertainty

kevn42000

I was living on my own and claiming single person Council Tax discount. Then, my African wife was granted a spouse visa and arrived 10th November 2022 to join me in the UK. She can work (has a Biometric Residence Permit), but cannot vote until she is granted UK citizenship (I think after 10 years). I am uncertain of her status with regard to council tax - should I inform the local authority and pay the full council tax rate now, or does her not being eligible to vote mean she doesn't 'exist' as far as the local authority are concerned?

elsien

As far as I’m aware the exemptions are for students and people with a severe mental impairment. Pretty sure eligibility to vote doesn’t come into it.
Contact your  local council for clarity but expect to pay.

marcia_

kevn42000 said:

I was living on my own and claiming single person Council Tax discount. Then, my African wife was granted a spouse visa and arrived 10th November 2022 to join me in the UK. She can work (has a Biometric Residence Permit), but cannot vote until she is granted UK citizenship (I think after 10 years). I am uncertain of her status with regard to council tax - should I inform the local authority and pay the full council tax rate now, or does her not being eligible to vote mean she doesn't 'exist' as far as the local authority are concerned?

 Of course she exists and her visa ir voting status has no baring on her liability for tax including council tax. 

 You are not eligible for a single person discount because you are not the only adult living in the home.

FreeBear

marcia_ said: You are not eligible for a single person discount because you are not the only adult living in the home.

But you may be eligible for a reduced rate if the household income is low enough. Have a chat with the benefits department at your local council office.

MovingForwards

FreeBear said:

marcia_ said: You are not eligible for a single person discount because you are not the only adult living in the home.

But you may be eligible for a reduced rate if the household income is low enough. Have a chat with the benefits department at your local council office.

Go on the council website and look for council tax reduction, there will be a form to complete.

RAS

And check whether she is the citizen of a "qualifying Commonwealth country", as she maybe eligible to vote. And if you live in Wales or Scotland, the qualifications are broader.

Being on the electoral roll can be very useful, if only when trying to open a bank account.

macman

There are millions of UK residents who don't have the right to vote in a General Election. That doesn't exempt them from being liable to Council tax, income tax or any other form of taxation.

OhWow

FreeBear said:

But you may be eligible for a reduced rate if the household income is low enough. Have a chat with the benefits department at your local council office.

That is a bad idea as they are not immigration experts. His wife is on a spouse visa and will be NRPF (No Recourse to Public Funds) and a breach of her visa conditions could mean her visa is curlatailed, or she is refused her next visa to remain in the UK.

"UK Visas and Immigration guidance on how staff make decisions about which UK public funds foreign nationals can claim and what action it must take if they claim funds they are not entitled to."

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-funds

Council Tax Reduction is a Public Fund.

Single Person Discount is not a Public fund, but the OP can no longer claim that as his wife now lives in the property.

"CTR is also a public fund; however unlike UC the Local Authority cannot separate the partner with NRPF from the award, and CTR is a single claim with a partner included. This may result in additional public funds being paid to the partner with recourse, which could then breach the NRPF condition. An exception could be if the amount of CTR is the same for the claimant even if the partner is included, for example if the claimant would still be passported to full CTR."https://medium.com/adviser/universal-credit-couple-claims-where-one-member-has-no-recourse-to-public-funds-e5aaf9ceac43

Are you a student? As said above, that has different rules for an exemption which will also apply if their spouse is NRPF

OhWow

RAS said:

And check whether she is the citizen of a "qualifying Commonwealth country", as she maybe eligible to vote. And if you live in Wales or Scotland, the qualifications are broader.

Being on the electoral roll can be very useful, if only when trying to open a bank account.

https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/register-vote-and-update-your-details#commonwealth

Muttleythefrog

Yes you'll have to inform them and you will likely lose the single person discount. 

To clarify:
Your wife most likely has a 2.5 year spouse visa and will need to apply for another before that runs out. If these periods of leave to remain are awarded (as standardly there are) on the 5 year partner route to Indefinite Leave to Remain then she would be able to apply for that ILR after 5 years. If she gets ILR then she automatically is entitled to apply to naturalise (exempt from having to wait 12 months if she is still married to a British national). She would then acquire a right to vote (unless she comes from one of the countries whose nationals automatically have a right to vote here) and apply for a UK passport.

OhWow makes an important point above and one that shines a light on quirk of incompatibility of immigration law and council tax support rules:-
Your wife will be subject to a No Recourse to Public Funds condition meaning she won't be entitled to get various typically income related benefits and disability benefit. (Once she acquires ILR she can claim benefits on same terms as a Brit living here.) Single person discount (SPD) is not classed as a public fund but Council Tax Support (CTS) is.... so in some cases when a partner joins a British resident and they then lose the SPD they can find they get an increased award of CTS which is technically then a breach of immigration law - this has been detected in a few cases I believe but typically is not and quite frankly why should migrants and their partners suffer over small amounts of money they cannot really prevent being awarded in honestly reporting their circumstances. So yes be careful when claiming benefits with a partner subject to NRPF. 

For benefits purposes (should you ever be in a situation of considering needing to claim - it sounds like you are not but I might be wrong and circumstances can change anyway so info always worth providing) your partner exists but cannot be given public funds so for example if you were to claim Universal Credit she would also have to apply and your claims would be linked before she would be denied the benefit... and you'd be paid only the single person rate. However her income and savings will be considered in any means testing of benefits.

Good luck... been through it all myself...lol