Council tax reduction backdated?

cfaw

Hi

My wife has been full time at university for the past 5 years.

Ive just tried to apply for single person reduction in council tax and Ive been told it cannot be backdated despite showing proof she has been studying there all this time.

Is there any way to challenge this? 

MattMattMattUK

cfaw said:

Hi

My wife has been full time at university for the past 5 years.

Ive just tried to apply for single person reduction in council tax and Ive been told it cannot be backdated despite showing proof she has been studying there all this time.

Is there any way to challenge this? 

Unfortunately not, it is up to you to claim it if eligible and there is no provision or right for it to be backdated, there is nothing to challenge.

calcotti

Your question is about a single person Council Tax Discount. Council Tax Reduction is a means tested benefit to help you pay your Council Tax.

MattMattMattUK said: Unfortunately not, it is up to you to claim it if eligible and there is no provision or right for it to be backdated, there is nothing to challenge.

I don't think that is correct.

Practice about backdating appears to differ between councils on whether or not backdating of a discount is accepted. I believe that there is nothing in the legislation that prevents backdating but I'm not sufficiently familiar with the legislation to be able to find relevant sections that you can refer to but I think backdating should be permitted.

There's a discussion thread here
https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/18147
The link to a tribunal case as an example in that thread doesn't seem to work anymore but i have found the case here
http://info.valuation-tribunals.gov.uk/Decision_Documents/documents/CT_England/2935M220133254C.pdf

If I have read it properly, it appears that you should be entitled to get backdating for up to six years but possibly longer if information supplied by the local authority each year doesn't highlight the possible discounts.

I therefore think you can appeal the decision to refuse backdating. You must first appeal to the council and then, if necessary appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/council-tax/paying-council-tax/
(see the section on 'Other complaints about Council Tax').
https://valuationtribunal.gov.uk/council-tax-appeals/council-tax-liability-appeal/

Seek advice if you need it
https://advicelocal.uk

HillStreetBlues

As it's only 5 years no need to worry if any 6 year limitations.
 A good case to look at is Smith v Nottingham City Council  as it deals with the single person discount
http://info.valuation-tribunals.gov.uk/Decision_Documents/documents/CT_England/3060M96353037C.pdf  (PDF)

Smith didn't inform the council that he was entitled to the single person discount
the council refused the discount as the council said  the should have been informed.

The judge didn't think just by not informing the council alone is good enough reason to not backdate the discount. 


 The decision was to allow the backdating on the single discount  for 6 years not the full length Smith asked for but for you this wouldn't matter.

calcotti

The case I linked earlier is more recent, although it is not about the single person discount it applies equally to any applicable discount.

HillStreetBlues

Always better to find as many judgments in support of a case.

cfaw

Thanks guys, ill keep you posted on how i get on

cfaw

SUCCESS! £1200 refund from over the past 4.5 years when someone from the council said they couldnt give me a discount or back date it!

HillStreetBlues

cfaw said:

SUCCESS! £1200 refund from over the past 4.5 years when someone from the council said they couldnt give me a discount or back date it!

Great news   thanks for the update.

FirmSpear

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. We have a similar query regarding council tax reduction. We initially lost entitlement in September 2021 after I started working. We queried this at the time and due to the total income of my wages and our universal credit, the council deemed that we did not qualify for any reduction. We left it at this as they provided the income bandings to show our income was indeed above the threshold. We had already had a disabled reduction discount successfully applied.

We have recently looked into this again as we have recently moved house and believe that the council did not apply their own rules regarding income disregards and included carers allowance/carers element of UC, the LCWRA element of UC and the support component of the New-style ESA. These have been a constant element since September 2021. So if these were disregarded at the time we would have been eligible for the past two years.

would there be anyway that we could apply for this to be backdated to the initial query even though the council state that they will not be able to backdate it?

thanks in advance for any advice.

poppy12345

@FirmSpear this thread is 18 months old please start your own thread with your question. Asking questions on other peoples threads causes confusion.