Council Tax Single Person Discount Review

Anthear

My local Council have written to me asking for info as I claim a single person discount.  They are asking for detailed info about anyone under 18/due to become 18 in 2023:  name, DOB, relationship to CT payer, if they are a student - Course title, start date/end date plus they want a student certificate from the college or university.

What do people think about this request??  I personally feel it's intrusive & they are collecting more data than they legitimately need - ie you have to let them know about young people living at home if they are not studying....  Any thoughts? 

MikeJXE

I live alone and get 25% discount 

If I had anyone staying with me I wouldn't 

Thats the rules 

Anthear

MikeJXE said:

I live alone and get 25% discount 

If I had anyone staying with me I wouldn't 

Thats the rules 

Exactly but they say unless you reply to them:  "Should you fail to return the declaration, your discount will be removed back to 1 December 2022.  The discount cannot be reinstated until you complete the declaration to prove your eligibility."

MovingForwards

Legitimate request as they have to account for the use of public funds which a discount is, as are CT reductions.

If you don't want the discount ignore their request, wait for your recalculated bill and pay it. 

Anthear

And the legal position is....?

baser999

Are students counted in the same way as say adults for the purposes of CT? If you can get the single occupant discount with a student living in the house that’ll be why they need evidence of the course. 

As others have said, if you don’t respond, sit back and await the increased demand

Silvertabby

OP - you absolutely don't have to supply this information if you don't want to.  Just tell your Council that you want to pay full council tax and that will be the end of it.  Entirely your choice.

The_Unready

To claim a single person CT student discount the course the student is on has to be for a certain number of hours per week. This may vary between councils (although I don't know) but for my council the minimum number of hours is 21.

Anthear

The_Unready said:

To claim a single person CT student discount the course the student is on has to be for a certain number of hours per week. This may vary between councils (although I don't know) but for my council the minimum number of hours is 21.

Under 18 they don't need to know.  It's when they are 18 that you have to have proof of course etc - my council are asking for names and DOB of under 18. My older son is registered on the Electoral Roll both at my address & his student accommodation. Ironically, when you apply for a postal vote they ask for your student accommodation address.  

I suspect they are looking at the Electoral Roll without applying any intelligence, because if they did, they'd know that my 18+ son has an address outside of this Council's area because he's already told them where he lives.

I absolutely don't have a problem providing legally required info for which there is legitimate reason for, I object to passing on personal data that they don't need.  I've told them I am the only adult over 18 in the property which is the case. 

So many unnecessarily sarky comments!

theoretica

If you have someone living with you who is shortly going to turn 18 your single person discount will only be valid until their birthday - unless they are a student.  In which case registering their student status in advance would seem efficient for all involved. 

p00hsticks

Anthear said:

The_Unready said:

To claim a single person CT student discount the course the student is on has to be for a certain number of hours per week. This may vary between councils (although I don't know) but for my council the minimum number of hours is 21.

I suspect they are looking at the Electoral Roll without applying any intelligence, because if they did, they'd know that my 18+ son has an address outside of this Council's area because he's already told them where he lives.

I very much doubt that any human, intelligent or otherwise, will have looked at it - most local authorities wouldn't have the resources. It'll have been a standard computer search to ideintify properties that have a single person discount applied but have more than one person registered at that address, and throw out a letter to them all. As others have said, the most likely explanation for such a scenario is that all but one of them is either someone coming up to 18 and or/a full time student donig a recognised course.

As I see it they're perfectly within their rights to ask the person claiming the discount to provide evidence to back up that claim.