How much Council Tax Reduction can I get?
Pensioners
If you (and your partner) are pensioners to work out your benefit we take into account:
- how much income you have coming in each week or month (earnings and/or benefits)
- how much you have in savings and investments
- who lives in your household and their circumstances. In some circumstances there will be deductions from your benefit if you have an adult non dependant living with you
- how much Council Tax you have to pay
Working Age
If you (and your partner) are working age your entitlement is based on the level of income you have coming in each week or month (earnings and/or benefits) and how much Council Tax you have to pay.
From the 1 April 2024 entitlement is based on a comparison of household income and household size.
Your personal circumstances will place you into 1 of 4 schemes:
- Household with no dependent children - A dependent child being one you receive Child Benefit for.
- Household with 1 dependent child.
- Household with 2 or more dependent children.
- Household where you or your partner receive one of the following 'passported' incomes; Income Support, Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, Income Related Employment and Support Allowance.
The weekly income and discount percentage reduction that will be applied to your Council Tax account based on your household and weekly income for each scheme is as follows:
Weekly income and discount percentage
1 - Household with no dependent children
Description on Council Tax bill - H/Hold No Children
- £0.00 - £100.00 - 75%
- £100.01 - £175.00 - 50%
- £175.01 - £250.00 - 25%
- £250.01 plus - 0%
2 - Household with 1 dependent child
Description on Council Tax bill - H/Hold 1 Child
- £0.00 - £175.00 - 75%
- £175.01 - £250.00 - 50%
- £250.01 - £325.00 - 25%
- £325.01 plus - 0%
3 - Household with 2 or more dependent children
Description on Council Tax bill - H/Hold 2 Child+
- £0.00 - £250.00 - 75%
- £250.01 - £325.00 - 50%
- £325.01 - £400.00 - 25%
- £400.01 plus - 0%
4 - Household with passported income
Description on Council Tax bill - Passported
- All - 75%
You will no longer be sent notifications of your entitlement. The amount awarded will only show on your Council Tax bill with the description on the table above.
If you want to see more details regarding your assessment you can view your claim summary on the Benefits Citizen Access portal.
In assessing your weekly income please note the below:
- if you or your partner are working, the first £20 per week of any household earnings will be ignored
- payments of Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments, Attendance Allowance, Armed Forces Independent Payments, Child Benefit, Child Maintenance, Fostering Allowance, Guardians Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance, War Widows Pension and War Disablement Pension will be ignored
- for applicants who are in receipt of Universal Credit the following elements will be disregarded: Housing costs element, Carer's element, Limited capability for work element, Disabled child element, Childcare element
To find out an accurate assessment of what you could be entitled to please use the Entitled To Benefit Calculator. It will calculate what you are currently entitled to based on your circumstances.
If you wish to make a claim please go to the Citizen Access Benefits portal.
Change in Circumstances
You must tell us right away if you have a change in circumstances that could effect the level of entitlement you have been granted. Please see Change of circumstances - Southend-on-Sea City Council for more information