Who should pay the council tax?

[Cavapoo123]

A couple are moving in together. Person A is moving into Person B’s house.

Person A works full-time, currently pays £1500 in house bills in their own place (rented), will only be paying around £700 once moving into Person B’s house (also rented). Person B has no children. Earns around £2000 per month after tax.

Person B doesn’t work due to ill health, is on disability benefits, also has a disabled child who receives disability benefits. Also receives £120 per month child maintenance. Person B’s benefits will go down by around £800 once Person A moves in, but will be making up some of the money by saving on some of the joint house bills that Person A will be contributing towards.

Person B currently doesn’t have to pay council tax due to disability exemptions, however once Person A moves in, the house will have to pay council tax again which even with the single person discount will be around £190 per month.

Who is responsible for this council tax bill?

You've actually said person B has no children and earns £2000 after tax but then goes on to say person b doesn't work and person b has 1 disabled child. ..
That confused me too. You need to edit the first paragraph as you've confused the people.

If they can’t agree to support each other at this stage, no one should be moving in anywhere!
CT should be split in the same way other bills are going to be.

Sorry I messed up that paragraph - person A doesn’t have children, person B has one disabled child

You total up all household bills and split them in proportion to the income of both members of the household. If you want to adjust slightly for Person B taking on more of the expenses of the child (e.g. maybe Person A doesn't contribute towards the child's clothing) and taking the maintenance payment out of Person B's income, then you can.

Person B knew they would be losing some benefits when Person A moved in and knew they would lose the council tax exemption, but that loss is incurred because of the increase in household income. Equally, Person A knew that they were moving in with Person B and Person B's child, and so while some of their household bills might be higher because three people are in the household, their own costs will probably go down a bit because of Person B's contributions.

This!! It’s a recipe for disaster, not good decision making at all by either parts. Forget about it!

whomever is being financially impacted should be compensated by the other, surely?

I know, it won’t let me edit it anymore… Person A works, earns £2000 after tax, has no children.

person B is on disability benefits and doesn’t work, has 1 disabled child

Don't move your partner in OP if you are going to be financially hit.

If B's disability was an SMI then A should still only have to pay 75%

Add it to the bills pot and split it the same way as all other bills. There's no point in saying oh, but B didn't have to pay it before or A is using too much hot water, or A doesn't need a Disney subscription. The bills are what they are now, you've made the decision to move in together and that's the cost. If it's not financially advantageous, you've got the option to live separately.

The state, quite correctly, assumes that when people cohabit they are a family and therefore pool their resources. Therefore people in those circumstances should not move in together unless all the money is put into a single pot and expenses are shared.

It’s not a SMI

How much is person A getting in benefits though ? This could total close to £2000 if her child is also receiving disability benefits.

Person B doesn’t earn anything, you’re listing benefits. Benefits aren’t earned.

This, if B doesn’t want to split all finances then that’s how it should be going forward with all bills?

Person A should pay all of the costs Person B is losing, so £800 pet month benefits your missing out on.

Then all bills including council tax is split between you.

Food could be three ways depending on age of child

Sorry .. Not my day today. I meant I don't know why A wouldn't consider it their bill

Why are you moving in together though?? There's no benefit at all for B

People don’t usually move in for purely financial reasons…!

Is it of any benefit to A either though if they are becoming financially responsible for a child and paying most of the bills? What other expectation will be put on them?! They clearly don’t see them as a team so why bother at all?

Am assuming that the council tax bill for a in their own flat with single discounts in their previous property will now be considerably more with no single discount, different area and bigger property?
also is B expecting A to go 50:50 on all bills and pay for their child? What benefit is A getting? Will B be adding them to the lease so they are protected from being evicted?

If the person gets benefits like LCWRA in universal credit
if they ever need to reapply they will be on a much lower rate from April as they will only get a extra 200 for being in LCWRA group rather than the extra 400

plus if they have to take medicine they will have to pay for it / get a pre paid prescription

honestly if your b with the child / disability’s just don’t do it
you will be financially worse off

This approach is madness. You can't expect A to provide B with both the shortfall in benefits and then pay 50% of all bills. That is double counting.

They either need to combine finances and be left with equal spare money, have A cover the benefit shortfall and only any increase in bills, or come up with a system that accounts for the lost benefits, increased bills but also the child person B has.

The couple should pool their resources and pay all household expenses from the joint pot, only keeping back for themselves individually an equal amount of personal spending money.

If either of them aren’t willing to do this, they shouldn’t move in together because they aren’t ready to be a family.

Precisely!