Council Tax Support (CTS) is also referred to as Council Tax Reduction (CTR). It is a discount for people who have to pay Council Tax for the property they live in. The size of the discount you get depends on your income and household size.
Council Tax Support is available to single people, families, couples, working people, retired people, the unemployed and anyone on a low income
You can apply for Council Tax Support even if you own your house. However, you will not qualify if you are working age and have savings of £6,000 or more. Or, if you are of pension age and have savings over £16,000 unless you receive guaranteed pension credit.
There is a different national Council Tax Support scheme for people who have reached the qualifying age for:
If you are of pensionable age, the government has set rules that are used to calculate the amount of Council Tax Support you will get.
The Working Age Council Tax Support scheme is defined by the authority and is an income-banded system based on your household size and weekly income. It will give you a percentage reduction on your Council Tax if you meet the criteria. If you are eligible for support, you could see a discount on your Council Tax bill, depending on how you fit the criteria.
A mixed age couple is where one is pensionable age and the other is working age
You can use a benefits calculator to find out what you can claim.
You do not have to renew your claim for Council Tax Support each year as this is paid for as long as you are entitled to it.
Although this scheme is based on income bands, meaning small changes to your income will not change the amount of discount you’ve been awarded, we do need to know if you have any changes. This could be changes
Not all changes in circumstance will lead to a change in your award, so please continue to pay your bill at the same amount.
We may invite you to complete a claim review to ensure we have the correct information.
If you have received a reduction in your bill to which you were not entitled to:
If you think our decision about your Council Tax Support is wrong, contact us first and ask us to look at the decision again. You can write to us at any point to say you disagree with a Council Tax Support decision. We must reply to you within two months.
If we decide to change how much you are awarded, we will write to you. If we cannot alter our decision, we will tell you why and inform you of your right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.
If you have not heard from us and it is two months since you wrote to us, you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal Service. But you must contact them within four months of when you first wrote to us.
You can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal Service about:
You can appeal online or download a form on the Valuation Tribunal Service website to fill in and send back to them.
The council (including Council Tax, Benefits, Business Rates and Debt Recovery teams) are now using SMS text messages to provide you with information about our services. Please note that these are only used in some cases and you should not rely on us sending you a text message to update you about your account.
If we already have your mobile number in our system you will be signed up for the service automatically. If we don’t have your mobile number or your number has changed recently and you would like to receive SMS texts please send an email to benefits@northlincs.gov.uk
If you would like to opt-out of receiving SMS text messages for Benefits please email benefits@northlincs.gov.uk to confirm that you do not wish to receive information from us by SMS text message. You will need to give your claim reference, name and address so we can update your account accordingly.
The SMS text messages are sent by North Lincolnshire Council and will show as “NL Council”. The sending of messages is a confidential service, your mobile number will not be shared with third parties and we will not send you any other marketing messages to your phone.
Council Tax Support is applied directly to your Council Tax account. It is not made as a payment but is applied through a reduced Council Tax bill. Your bill will show you what discount has been awarded and state how much you still need to pay.
If you think that your bill is wrong or if you think you may have problems making the payments, please contact us immediately.