Maternity leave - council tax discount ?

[dg93]

Hi,

I'm due to go on maternity leave 21st January 2022 for 12 months. I'm wondering if there's anything I'm entitled to to get my bills down? Especially when it comes to council tax.

I am the main earner of our household, my partner is self employed. I can't see anything on my local councils website.

Any ideas? I'm planning on spending to a budget during my maternity leave, so we can pay some outstanding debts off whilst I'm off, and I do have £1000 put aside for me and baby to go out and have days out / buy things she will need etc.

Any advice really appreciated 😊

No, nothing available on council tax

No. No council tax discount.

Check here:
www.entitledto.co.uk/

LOL

What?!? No op, I'm afraid not.

Council tax support is (household) means tested. You can check if you're eligible on entitledto.

No. Single adult discount doesn't apply.

I wish!

As someone who works in Council Tax currently on maternity leave.. no. Could you take 9 months instead of a year if you're going to struggle?

Why would you expect your bills to reduce because you are on maternity leave?

Thanks everyone, I was told by someone I know who went on maternity leave that she was entitled to a slight discount on council tax as she was off work as the main earner for the household, so just thought I'd check!

I won't struggle, but we will just get by, no harm in asking a question 😊

Different rules for different councils.
A benefit calculator such as the one linked by PP should give you a good idea. If your income has reduced it's possible you may be entitled to universal credit instead or as well as (although if you are on existing benefits such as working tax credit then make sure you look at all the scenarios to make sure which you'd be better off on).

It depends on your earnings.
If it's less than a certain amount for the year you may be entitled to certain benefits just for the tax year.

So if you did end up on certain benefits because of the drop in your income. You may be entitled to a reduction in your council tax.

It’s not just a cut across the board for anyone on maternity leave but if your drop in income means you are then below the threshold for benefits you may get something. Depends on what you earn - if you earn £15k a year normally and maternity leave drops your household income to £5k then you will get something. If your income is 75k and you are dropping to 50k then, no you won’t get anything!

No automatic CT discount. It is worth checking if you qualify for UC, I did in the last 7 weeks. I went back at 6 months as I couldn't afford to be off any longer. I'm also the main earner and DH was on min wage PT.

As previous poster states see if you’re entitled to universal credit

Council tax relief will also b checked if you use the entitledto calculator- but it’s unlikely if your dp is earning and you’re getting SMA, but will vary council to council so worth checking

What you might want to check is how many instalments you make each year. Standard is 10 payments, running from April-January. You can ask for this to be changed to 12 payments from April - March, but the council may want you to have your payment date as the 1st or 5th of the month if you do 12 payments. This will obviously not reduce the payment but would possibly help with your budget

Sadly there isn't