Council Tax Support

Council Tax Support is help given to people on a low income to help towards their Council Tax. You can claim whether you are working, unemployed, retired, or receiving Income Support or any other benefits.

If you claim Universal Credit you still need to make a separate claim for Council Tax Support as this is not included in your Universal Credit payments.

Your Council Tax Support will be added directly to your Council Tax bill.

To apply for Council Tax Support you must be the person legally responsible for paying the Council Tax and be living at the property.

You can claim Council Tax Support online here

You may be able to claim for Council Tax Support if you:

  • Are working full or part time and earning a low wage
  • Have savings under £16,000 (if you are in receipt of Pension Credit (guarantee) this limit does not apply)
  • Are receiving state benefits

Your claim will be based on your Council Tax charge after any discounts have been made. Read the details of our 2024/25 Council Tax Support scheme

Anyone of working age who claims Council Tax Support will have to contribute a minimum of 15% towards their Council Tax.

Anyone of pension age and War Widows will have their Council Tax Support claim assessed using their full Council Tax charge. Check when you reach pension age using the pension age calculator.

Whilst you are receiving Council Tax Support you must tell us about any changes in your circumstances which may affect your claim.

Mixed age couples

The mixed age couple rule, where one of you has reached State Pension age but the other has not, does not apply to Council Tax Support claims. You will be classed as a pension age couple if only one of you is of pension age.

Backdating Council Tax Support

We cannot usually start your claim before the date that we receive it just because you did not know or did not think you were entitled to benefit.

If you can show good cause for not making an application earlier we will consider backdating your Council Tax Support.

We cannot backdate your claim for more than 6 months for working age customers or 3 months for pensioners from before the date your claim for backdating is received. 

Make an application for backdated payment of benefits (PDF, 93KB).