About the local scheme
Households on low income can get council tax support. The local council tax scheme is paid for from our funds, not by central government.
The current version of the scheme started on 1 April 2021 for the year 2021/22. It will remain in place for 2025/26. The main points of the current scheme are:
- all working-age claimants must pay a minimum of at least 25% of their council tax themselves
- working-age people with more than £6,000 in savings are not entitled to claim local council tax support
- £25 per week of all earned income is fully disregarded when we work out entitlement
- war pension income for disablement or bereavement is fully disregarded
- Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment incomes are fully disregarded
- local council tax support can be backdated for 1 calendar month only
- you are not entitled to support if you are absent from Great Britain for 4 weeks or more
- in most cases, a maximum of 2 children will be taken into account when we work out entitlement, even if there are 3 or more children in the household
You can download the full scheme below.