Council Tax Support if you are pensionable age
The amount of Council Tax Support you might get depends on your financial circumstances, your age, who lives with you and where you live.
Pensionable age
To find out if you are pensionable age check on GOV.UK. If you are a mixed age couple, one of you is pensionable age and one of you is working age, you will be treated as working age for the purposes of Council Tax Support.
To work out whether you're entitled to Council Tax Support we need to look at your weekly income and also who lives with you.
Weekly income
Depending on the type of income or benefits you are getting, some of the money can be ignored when your benefit is worked out. This figure is shown separately as an Income Disregard.
We then compare your income to the amount the Government says you need to live on. This amount is called your applicable amount.
If your income is the same as or less than your applicable amount, you could get maximum eligible Council Tax Support, but this can be reduced if other people live with you.
If your income is more than your applicable amount, you may still be able to get some Council Tax Support, but again this will depend on your income and by other people who live with you.
If your income is more than the government says you need to live on, then the difference is known as excess income. If you have excess income then you are expected to use this to contribute to your council tax.
When we work out Council Tax Support claims, we start by looking at the applicable amount.
Applicable amounts
Your applicable amount is the amount central government states you need to live on.
Applicable amounts are made up of two elements – personal allowances and premiums. Both are set by central government.
Personal allowances
Single Person personal allowances for Council Tax Support
| Single Person’s circumstances | Weekly allowance per person |
|---|
|
reach state pension credit age on or after 1.4.2021
|
£218.15
|
|
reach state pension credit age before 1.4.2021
|
£235.20
|
Personal allowances for couples for Council Tax Support
| Couple’s circumstances | Weekly allowance per couple |
|---|
|
reach state pension credit age, one or
both members on or after 1.4.2021
|
£332.95
|
|
reach state pension credit age, one or
both members before 1.4.2021
|
£352.00
|
|
Dependants under 20 years in education who reside in the household
|
£82.24
|
Premiums
Premiums are amounts we add to your personal allowance to increase your applicable amount. There are premiums for families, for households with disabled people, and for carers. We will use the information you give us on your claim form to work out what premiums we can include for you.
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Family premium
New claimants can’t get the Family Premium. You will only get the Family Premium if it your claim was calculated before 1 May 2016 and you haven’t had a break in your claim. As soon as your, Council Tax Support or Child Benefit ends your Family Premium will end.
The Family Premium rate is £19.15 a week
Disabled child premium
You get a disabled child premium for each dependent child living with you as a member of your family who meets at least one of the following conditions:
- is blind or registered blind, or has stopped being registered blind within the last 28 weeks
- gets Disability Living Allowance care component DLA(C) or mobility component DLA(M)
- gets Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- is in hospital but would get PIP if they were at home
- gets Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP)
Where a child spends time in different households, we will normally give the premium to the adult who gets the child benefit.
If the child dies, you will get the premium until the child benefit stops being paid.
The disabled child premium rate is £80.01 a week.
Severe disability premium
People will get a severe disability premium if no-one is getting carer’s allowance for them, they live alone (apart from their partner) and they get one of the following benefits:
- Disability Living Allowance Care (DLAC) at the middle or highest rate
- Attendance Allowance (AA)
- Personal Independence Payment daily living(PIP) at the standard or enhanced rate
- Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP)
The severe disability premium rate is £81.50 a week for a single person and £163.00 if both the person claiming and their partner meet the conditions.
Carer’s premium
You will get a carer’s premium if either you or your partner get Carer’s Allowance or the carer’s element of Universal Credit (or are entitled to it but don’t get it because of other benefits).
The premium goes to the carer not the person cared for.
If you claim Carer’s Allowance, the person you care for will not qualify for severe disability premium unless they are one of a couple who both qualify for the premium and the other person is not being cared for by someone one claiming Carer’s Allowance.
If the person you care for dies, carer’s premium will continue for 8 weeks. The 8 weeks starts on the Sunday following the death or from the date of the death, if it’s a Sunday.
If the entitlement to Carer’s Allowance ends for any other reason, the premium continues for 8 weeks.
The carer’s premium rate is £45.60 a week.
You and your partner’s income and savings
You and any partner’s income and savings will affect how much Council Tax Support you can get. To find out more, see income and savings.
Other adults’ income
The income of any other adults in your household apart from your partner might affect how much Council Tax Support you can get. To find out more, see other adults.
The number of children who live with you
You get more Council Tax Support if you have children or are responsible for children who live with you. Where children spend time in more than one home, we normally count them as living with the person who gets child benefit for them.
People making new claims can usually only get benefit for up to 2 children. This is because of the April 2017 changes to Child Tax Credit. We can only give benefit for a third child if HMRC makes a tax credit award for the child.
We base the amount of Council Tax Support we can give on the net Council Tax liability. Your net Council Tax liability is the amount on your bill after any other discounts/disregards have been applied.
Further benefits information, help and support
For details of organisations who can give you advice about money matters and help you apply for benefits, see Live Well applying for welfare benefits.
For an estimate of how much benefit you might get, you can use the entitled to online benefits calculator.
To see how your benefit has been calculated you can register for an account now if you haven’t done so already.
If you require any further information – contact the benefits team.
Page last reviewed: 27 February 2024
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