I just had this years council tax bill…increased fom £23 per month to £33 per month. A 43% rise…thanks!
Hi, are you getting any discount? We are due to having had a room made into a wet room for me.
Someone else said here, that they got a discount for using a wheelchair.
pollx
Florence,
My understanding is that councils can increase the tax by up to 1.99% without consultation. The maximum increase is 3.99% but they have to consult the electorate first by referendum.
How do they account for the figures you have quoted?
Alun
You qualify for a discount (to the band below where your property is valued at) if you use a wheelchair indoors or you have to have an extra room to accommodate the needs of the disabled person. So you’d get one if you have to have a downstairs loo put in, or an extra room depending on your needs.
If you’re already in band A you get a discount equivalent to one sixth of the bill.
So if you don’t already get the discount Poll, you should get in touch with the council and see how far back they’ll backdate it to as well. You should get it because you use a wheelchair in the house.
Sue
I agree with Alun, larger councils aren’t allowed to increase by that much. You need to check your bill closely Florence. Compare this years to last years. Generally the largest part of the bill is the County Council element (unless you live in an area where there is no County Council eg a London Borough) and apart from an increase to account for adult social care, the increase can’t be more than 1.99%. It’s only small councils like parish councils that are allowed to raise by more than 1.99% without a referendum.
My bill went up by various percentages. The county council bit went up by 1.95%, plus a bit for adult social care, but the parish council went up by 6.81%. But as that only amounts to about a £5 increase for the year it’s allowed. The other bits also went up by more than 1.99% but as they are small increases (less than £5 increase per year) that’s allowed too.
So my monthly charge went up from about £137 to £143. Or £72 per year. Which is to be expected. The majority of the rise was the county council precept.
Is your rise related to council tax benefit Florence? Or arrears from last year? Or not applying a discount that you had last year? (if you live alone for instance and they’ve not given you the single person discount.)
Sue
Have you previously had the discount for single person occupancy? I have heard other people say that this was wrongly not applied automatically on a new bill. Trust me, if your council had put up Council Tax by 40%+ there would be rating in the streets! Few things get middle England worked up more than “the rates”.
They have reduced my council tax benefit by 43%. This adds £10 per month to the bill.
So you should have received, or will receive, the council tax benefit entitlement notification letter which applies from April 2016. When you get this, you need to read it carefully and find out why your benefit has been reduced. Take the letter into your council tax benefit office and get them to check it out carefully. Hopefully there’s been a glitch in the computer system and it can be easily resolved.
Try not to worry about it until you have gone through the paperwork with the appropriate benefit office.
Sue
Sue I do get the discount already. Have done for several years. Just re-read my previous reply and if I’d put it differently, it would’ve been clearer! Cheers chuck!
Pollx
I have already had a letter saying that my benefit will reduce because they have to ake cuts.
Do they have any discretion as to where they make the cuts? I know the council tax rules changed over the last few years so it’s likely they have no discretion, but it worth asking just in case.
Sue
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