If you have a live-in carer living at your property then they may be disregarded for Council Tax purposes and a discount of 25% may be applicable.
This could increase to 50% if another adult is disregarded but this depends on the number of adults living at your property.
A carer is disregarded for Council Tax if they are providing care or support (or both) to either:
- someone in receipt of certain benefits
- another person on behalf of the local authority
- another person who you are employed by and who you were introduced to by a charitable organisation.
Caring for someone in receipt of certain benefits
To qualify under this part of the legislation you must:
- Be resident in the same property as the person being cared for
- Be providing care for 35 hours per week on average (we may ask for evidence of this)
- Not be the partner of the person being cared for, or, if the person needing care is a child under 18, not be the child’s parent
- Be caring for someone entitled to certain benefits
More than one person living at a property can count as a carer but each of them would need or provide care for 35 hours per week on average.
Certain benefits
We take into account the following benefits:
- Lower or higher rate Attendance Allowance
- The middle or highest rate care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- The standard or enhanced rate of daily living component of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Armed forces independence payment
- An increase in constant attendance allowance under the industrial injuries or war pension scheme
- The highest rate of constant attendance allowance payable on top of the full-rate disablement benefit paid for an industrial injury.
Carers providing care on behalf of a local authority or charitable organisation
To qualify under this part of the legislation you must be:
- providing the care or support on behalf of a local authority, a government department or a charitable organisation, so that the best care can be provided
- engaged or employed for at least 24 hours per week
- paid no more than £44 per week
Carers introduced by a charitable organisation
To qualify under this part of the legislation you must:
- Be employed to provide care or support by the person who needs the care for at least 24 hours a week
- Be earning no more than £44 per week from this employment
- Have been introduced to the person by a charitable organisation
- Be a resident in premises provided by, or on behalf of, the person being card for to enable the best care to be provided for.
In most instances a 25% discount will be awarded if the qualifying criteria is met. In some instances this could increase to 50% if other persons in the property are disregarded.
Example
In a property there are two adults. Tom is severely mentally impaired for Council Tax purposes and is aged 20. He is entitled to one of the qualifying benefits. His mother is his carer providing care for at least 35 hours per week on average.
Under these circumstances both adults are disregarded and a 50% discount is applicable. If Tom was not disregarded, it would be 25%.
Apply for a Carers Discount
You need to apply for the discount online. To do this you will need to either already have an account or register for one.