Council tax rebate application process

[Renniesfixeverything]

I'm posting on behalf of my DM, she doesn't pay her council tax by direct debit and received her letter today inviting her to apply online. Part way through the process she was asked to upload her bank statement and I wondered if anyone knew why they would need this?

It didn't read like it was to verify her ID or anything like that and it would be odd if there weren't other options (passport, driving license, council tax bill etc) but bank statement was the only one given and she couldn't continue the application unless she uploaded it.

She didn't go ahead (she's a bit funny about giving out her personal info, especially online) and it said if she didn't apply it would be credited to her CT account by September so she's decided to wait, which is fine and resolves the issue but we're both a bit baffled as to why they wanted her bank statement rather than just sort code and account number so they could make the payment and the normal options for verifying ID

That seems odd.
I don't pay council tax by direct debit, but was sent a letter to take to a Post Office to exchange for the £150 as cash. I just had to take my council tax statement.
It seems all councils are handling it differently.

I received it via a letter, didn't have to apply.

If I were you I'd get your DM to phone the council to make sure it's not a scam.

We had the same. (Northamptonshire) had to upload Dh bank details (copy of statement) as verification. I queried it as a) I pay the bill b) it was paid by credit card, so I believe a refund is owed to me, via my credit card. Apparently no, despite being named on the council tax bill and paying the bloody thing, the refund goes to his account. He had fun attempting to find a copy of his bank statement. So apparently not a scam. But still seems odd to me.
rant over.

I agree with DM on this occasion (I usually think she's a bit paranoid about this stuff) that it's a bit intrusive tbh, interesting that different councils seem to be handling it differently.

I'm same county as you @Alphabet1spaghetti2, and received it without doing anything at all! Pay by direct debit.

*I pay by direct debit.

Have you received the payment now?

@JanglyBeads no not yet.
i don’t do dd at all. Prefer to lump sum payment via cc, especially as a lot is done online. I also get a discount for paying up front with a lot of our bills. So makes more sense, and I do pay it off every month. The points collected come in handy too, as does the cc insurance.

Our council sent the same letters into out to people who don't pay direct debit

People who get council tax benefit get £175 instead of £150 and the letter said the bank statement was to reduce fraud but id seen comments online it was so they could see the benefits that qualify someone to get the full council tax benefit going into the same account as the rebate is being claimed for. I pay mine in one lump sum and the £150 was in my bank today.

When the letters were sent out it caused loads of rows on the local Facebook page, people were complaining how unfair it is that people who don't even pay council tax because they get the full reduction not only get a £150 rebate but and extra £25 too.

I just took a screenshot of the first page of my statement in my banking app. I don't get paper copies anymore.

@ChronicallyOnline yep thats exactly what I would do. My Dh attempts to make most online stuff incredibly difficult. He could make it an Olympic sport and win gold.

@JanglyBeads @Renniesfixeverything
emall notification of bank payment followed by bank payment after 3 days. All
done within 28 days of original letter being received.
not a scam!