Council Tax Reduction - Waited Almost One Month and No Response

debtslave2024

I applied for Council Tax reduction, almost one month ago, and then sent a follow up email a few days later. I have heard nothing. I am currently on very low income, and a minimal Universal Credit. Plus of course, they have just increased council tax, and it is now one of my biggest monthly outgoings. The council tax took almost 25% of my total income for the past month!

How long is too long with regards to a response, from personal experiences of others? I doubt very much any private company would take almost a month. Am I being impatient?

Rightly or wrongly I have decided to raise a complaint after the month mark passes - though I do not place much hope on that being responded to.

The only other thing I can think of is to cancel the direct debit, and then they will be in touch within 7 days?

Muttleythefrog

This is council specific as they process council tax and run their own CTS (Council tax support/reduction) scheme... so asking people for timelines is not going to mean much as you're dealing with a department the vast majority of us getting CTS do not engage. Contact them by email perhaps asking - find email for the benefits division (it possibly is the same one that deals with housing benefit). If you get no rapid and satisfactory reply - complaint or local MP or both perhaps!

A month sounds excessive...

debtslave2024

@Muttleythefrog What about cancelling the direct debit? I know from a single time in my whole life, I missed a payment, they are extremely fast in responding?

Muttleythefrog

debtslave2024 said:

@Muttleythefrog What about cancelling the direct debit? I know from a single time in my whole life, I missed a payment, they are extremely fast in responding?

I would not advise that.... but I would say in email you're struggling to pay without the reduction you expect.

debtslave2024

@Muttleythefrog I am afraid they are failing to reply to emails also, but thanks for ideas.

Robbie64

It's most likely due to a backlog but the email may have also joined the backlog. Could you phone them and speak to someone. At least you'll be able to find out what the problem is (assuming they don't try to fob you off).

Muttleythefrog

debtslave2024 said:

@Muttleythefrog I am afraid they are failing to reply to emails also, but thanks for ideas.

Therein lies the potential differences council to council.... my CTS is usually dealt with within a few days (new/amended) and emails responded to on things like CTS within hours. If emails are also failing to get a reply then try direct calling the department as above.

in_my_wellies

I applied for the single person discount on 16th December. The auto response said I would hear in 12 working days. I finally received confirmation on 25th March after phoning 
There was no response to email

debtslave2024

@Robbie64, searched for phone number and cannot find one - I suspect this is intentional. @in_my_wellies, your timeframe does not surprise me. If I hear nothing after a month passes, I think I will cancel the direct debit. Taking almost 25 percent of income, and no response after a month is not right. Once the payment defaults, they are then very fast indeed to establish contact.

Sunflowergal1975

I applied to my local council for a reduction in January and still haven’t had it. 😡

I’ve chased them up via email and phone numerous times and keep getting different excuses each time I speak to someone. It’s crippling me financially and I just can’t understand how they can be so incompetent. 

Good luck with yours, I hope you get a result soon x 

GrumpyDil

Your council must have a general contact number. Assuming you haven't already tried that I would ring them and go from there.