Rebate of council Tax?

caroleann

Hi,
Could anyone give me any help/advice on getting a rebate of last years Council Tax please?
I am single Mum to 15 year old, working 20 hours per week and in receipt of CTC and WTC.
I rang council yesterday to see if I could have a reduction on my Council Tax and was told I would qualify, I then explained that I have been in this house 11 months now paying the full amount of CT and could I request a refund of the overpayment, she said I could but I would have to have a good reason why I had'nt claimed it before.
I only stumbled accross the chance of paying less on this site recently which is why I rang and queried this.
I wasn't in a very good state of mind this time last year, due to divorce and losing the marital home etc.... so I obviously overlooked the opportunity of claiming a reduction.
Has anyone out there been in this position before and what do I do now to get my rebate, does ignorance not qualify me?
Thanks in advance.

CIS

Council Tax Benefit doesn't generally count ignorance as a good enough reason for backdating without mitigating circumstances however you should still apply and state you reasons to make sure you at least get a current claim in.

Are you receiving your single person discount on your Council Tax ?

caroleann

N[URL="file://\\no"]o[/URL], I'm paying the full amount, its £70 a month.

SuziQ

I was also told you have to have very good reason for not applying,but apply stating what was going on,I am also surprised no-one told you that you may be entitled to this as LP. Try it-you've nothing to lose!

caroleann

Could you give me any advice about how to get it back without saying I just did'nt realise I should claim it?
I was all over the place at the time, emotionally.

CIS

Your best bet is tell them the full story of your situation

What is ‘Good Cause’? ‘Good Cause’ is something that prevented you from being able to make your claim at the right time. Unfortunately, just ‘not knowing’ that you could have made a claim is not, by itself, a good enough reason to allow backdating.
Examples of ‘Good Cause’ could be that:

• You were ill
• You were in hospital
• You were unavoidably away from home
• You were unable to manage your affairs
• You had a family crisis
• You had difficulties because English is not your first language

We do look at each case individually but can only make a decision based on the information you give to us, so it is important that you give us as much information as you can to support your request for backdating.
In order to backdate your benefit we must be satisfied that a reasonable person of your age, health and experience would have acted in the same way as you did.

With regards to the single person discount you need to contact your Council tax dept. - it would help if you could confirm to them where your ex lives - it can then be checked to confirm when he left the property.