Council tax inequality

[ImJustMadAboutSaffron]

My widowed neighbour is on benefits, PIP and universal credit. She pays £9 a month council tax.

I have a relative who's retired and on a teacher's pension but not yet old enough for state pension. She gets less per month than my neighbour gets in benefits and pays the full whack. All these properties are in the same band. Both people are a similar age.

Fair or not?

Gotta be a message there somewhere !

But one is disabled, so should have lower council tax.
The early retired person could go and work if they wanted to. The reason they are on less money is due to choice.

Yes I thought that. I got roasted when I pointed it out though

Retiring early is a choice, being disabled isn't.

You can't really 'retire' below retirement age and expect to be treated as a retired person at or above retirement age. She could have gone onto universal credit instead as a non-working person looking for work if she was that bothered.

apart from that, it's the age old problem. My grandparents were complaining about this when they retired! Save and get nothing. Don't save and get everything.

At least they have to pay something towards council tax these days

If your relative retired early, she probably got a lump sum as part of her pension and it is probably above the savings threshold for help with council tax. And her occupational pension income may well be above the income threshold, too.

Council tax support for working age people in England isn't a DWP benefit and councils can make their own rules (within certain parameters). The rules for pensioners are, I think*, the same all over the country. But they're definitely different for pensioners compared to working age claimants.

*I don't work with clients over pension age, so I might be wrong

The person who retired is presumably not eligible for universal credit & the resultant council tax benefit because she is not actively seeking work. Unless she is unfit for work due to health reasons then that is fair.

Totally fair. It’s a choice - and clearly she can afford early retirement. Lucky her!