UC and Council Tax

Cousin_Creditor

Hello,

Being on UC due to unemployment, I have applied for a CT Reduction. Is the bill to be reduced to £0 until I become employed? 

Bookworm105

council tax reduction is based on the fact you have a low income and less than £16,000 of personal money in savings, not the fact that you are unemployed.

How much CT reduction you get will be based on your specific council's policy and calculation. 
You say you have applied, does your council website not answer your question?

You will continue to get that reduction until your circumstances change, ie your income increases and/or you come into a lump sum of money from somewhere else. Perfectly possible to get some CT reduction even when working but not guaranteed to get 100% discount just for being unemployed.

tacpot12

It's unlikely that your bill will be reduced to zero. Even if you have no savings and your only income is UC, you will probably be expected to pay some CT; typical amounts in my area are £20/month. I've not heard of anything lower than this. 

Cousin_Creditor

tacpot12 said:

It's unlikely that your bill will be reduced to zero. Even if you have no savings and your only income is UC, you will probably be expected to pay some CT; typical amounts in my area are £20/month. I've not heard of anything lower than this. 

Well I made the application for reduction and it is yet to be processed. I phoned up today and the application is in the "work items" so I presume it will be processed eventually. 

I requested the change to be back-dated from when I first became unemployed. I have a "late payment" on my bill because I can't afford to pay, basically. I'm hoping this will be written off or reduced when they action my reduction request. Although, the operator seemed to think I was fair game, technically, for a court summons soon. Super fun. 

marcia_

Cousin_Creditor said:

tacpot12 said:

It's unlikely that your bill will be reduced to zero. Even if you have no savings and your only income is UC, you will probably be expected to pay some CT; typical amounts in my area are £20/month. I've not heard of anything lower than this. 

Well I made the application for reduction and it is yet to be processed. I phoned up today and the application is in the "work items" so I presume it will be processed eventually. 

I requested the change to be back-dated from when I first became unemployed. I have a "late payment" on my bill because I can't afford to pay, basically. I'm hoping this will be written off or reduced when they action my reduction request. Although, the operator seemed to think I was fair game, technically, for a court summons soon. Super fun. 

 Debt wont be written off just because you have now applied for a reduction. You will still be expected to pay it but you could ask to pay it in lower instalments. Council tax is a priority debt, they wont bat an eye taking you to Court to enforce it 

Cousin_Creditor

marcia_ said:

Cousin_Creditor said:

tacpot12 said:

It's unlikely that your bill will be reduced to zero. Even if you have no savings and your only income is UC, you will probably be expected to pay some CT; typical amounts in my area are £20/month. I've not heard of anything lower than this. 

Well I made the application for reduction and it is yet to be processed. I phoned up today and the application is in the "work items" so I presume it will be processed eventually. 

I requested the change to be back-dated from when I first became unemployed. I have a "late payment" on my bill because I can't afford to pay, basically. I'm hoping this will be written off or reduced when they action my reduction request. Although, the operator seemed to think I was fair game, technically, for a court summons soon. Super fun. 

 Debt wont be written off just because you have now applied for a reduction. You will still be expected to pay it but you could ask to pay it in lower instalments. Council tax is a priority debt, they wont bat an eye taking you to Court to enforce it 

Yeah, but I requested for it to be back-dated so it's not "written off" per se, but rather the bill will be re-calculated based on my circumstances?