Council tax discount

[discodiscodiscount]

My DS is just about to turn 18, and has left school at the summer. He had a seasonal part time job, which ended about three weeks ago. He is looking for something full time, but no success yet. He had register with our local careers service and so I was still receiving child benefit until last week.

I take it I now need to notify the council that he has left school, and although he is not yet working, my council tax discount will be removed?

Until he gets a ft job you are still a one wage household!

You might be able to reduce your council tax bill if you live with other adults but you’re the only one responsible for paying council tax. This is called getting a ‘second adult rebate’. Your local council might call a second adult rebate ‘alternative maximum CTR’.

You might be able to get a second adult rebate if you can't get Council Tax Reduction (CTR) because your income or capital is too high. Capital means things like savings and certain types of property. You can check if you can get CTR if you haven’t already.

You can’t get a second adult rebate at the same time as CTR.

To work out if you can get a second adult rebate, your council will check if you have any second adults living with you. They’ll then work out how much income the second adults have. The less income the second adults have, the more money you’ll get taken off your council tax bill.

Check if you’re living with a second adult

A second adult is someone who:

is 18 or over
isn’t your partner
doesn't pay you rent

doesn’t have a contract with your landlord
doesn’t jointly own your home
is on low income or getting certain benefits

There might be times when someone who meets these conditions doesn’t count as a second adult. For example, if they’re in prison. You can talk to an adviser if you’re not sure whether someone counts as a second adult.

But he's not in full time education? And in a few weeks when he turns 18, surely whether he's working or not isn't relevant? I assumed he'd be expected to sign on (which I'm reluctant to have him do), and cover the extra council tax.

Couples don't get discount just because one is unemployed, so they?

As far as I’m aware, yes you’ll lose your single person discount as you now have 2 adults living in the property. Has he started a claim for universal credit yet? It’s not much but will hopefully help to offset some of the cost increases. There may be other discounts available for low income households.

No, he hasn't started any claim yet. I am really hoping he'll get something over the next few weeks and that he won't need to. I don't think he would respond well to the way things work for job seekers now, if I'm honest.

If you are the only other adult in the property, then up until now you should have had a 25% rebate. Now he’s left school, you won’t be entitled to this as he will be classed as a second adult.
However, you should get a three month carry over as he’s only just left school.
My daughter left sixth form on 31st August and isn’t classed as a second adult until 1st November. The council didn’t tell me about this, the school advised me as I’m a full time student myself and therefore don’t count towards adults and shouldn’t have paid any council tax for the past two months. I’m waiting for them to sort me a refund now.

Best thing to do is give them a call to query it.
here’s a link with details- apparently not many people know about it and the councils don’t just offer it up, you have to ask for it. www.lgfa92.co.uk/school-leaver-missing-discount/

@discodiscodiscount I used to work in Council Tax, sadly yes, he is an adult so you get a full charge. Ctax is 50% property charge and 50% 2 adult occupant charge, hence why you get a 25% reduction for sole adult occupier. It doesn't matter if someone is a child, once they hit 18 (usually on the ctax register as a "rising 18" so that the charge can be levied) they are an adult so a full charge is applied.

If he was a student then he would get a student discount and 25% reduction would be applied to the full charge but you have to be in full time education to qualify. Hopefully he will get a job soon and be able to contribute.

Re councils not offering up information, they want the bills to be correct, they rely on receiving information. For single parents this matters due to 18 year old school leavers affecting their bills. There should be a booklet every year with your Council Tax bill or a relevant link to their website getting you to look to see if you are eligible for any exemptions or discounts. There are person and property exemptions and discounts. Lots of them. Councils rely on being informed if people's circumstances change. Sometimes that information comes from the benefits side of the umbrella of revenues and benefits.

I'm sorry to chime in. But have you any clue what it means when they say a disabled person must have a room that isn't a bedroom. I have two rooms and a living room. Me and my disabled son sleep together in the living room and my youngest has his own room due to my son being unable to share. We have his room but he's doesn't sleep in there he just goes in there when he wants sensory time, or if he's being affected by lights or if he's cane training team come and they do training in the room. Does this sound like a child who requires reduction? He's blind and has several learning developmental delays, he requires ground floor access also however I am on the first floor.

A room that isnt a bedroom is just that, its another room that isnt used as a bedroom that is just for the use of the disabled person.
So when they visit to award the reduction they will want to see that you have enough bedrooms for your family and one extra room that is used solely for the disabled persons care and nothing else, ie it isnt your dining room, study, spare bedroom etc

@shejokes11 I think you are better advised to start your own thread as it is completely different to this thread and there is only so much I remember. I had a whole manual of legislation about people discounts and property discounts to refer to at the time I worked there.

Have you been advised at all by any of the support you access like the cane training team? I would honestly contact your council and find out. They are there to help and if any discount should be applied they will apply it. This gives a brief overview https://www.gov.uk/council-tax/discounts-for-disabled-people