You can apply for Council Tax Support to help you pay your Council Tax if you’re on a low income or claiming benefits.
You cannot get Council Tax Support if you are:
- of working age and have more than £6,000 in savings
- of pension age and have more than £16,000 in savings, unless you receive guaranteed Pension Credit
You can use entitledto's free calculator to find out how much benefit you might be able to claim. You should be aware though that this is only an estimate and could be different from your actual award.
You may also be able to claim Housing Benefit if you’re claiming Council Tax Support.
Apply
Applying for Council Tax Support online takes between 10 minutes and 30 minutes. You can save and return to the application as many times as you need to.
When claiming Council Tax Support you can also claim Housing Benefit.
Evidence
You will need to provide evidence to support your application before we can make a decision. The sooner you provide the information the faster a decision will be made.
Identity
Examples of evidence of identity include:
- birth certificate
- passport
- driving licence
- marriage certificate
- National Insurance card
- medical card
- Uk Residence permit
- EEC identity card
- recent gas or electricity bill
We may need to see a number of these documents for each person
National Insurance number
Examples of evidence of National Insurance number include:
- National Insurance card
- payslips
- letters from the Department of Work and Pensions or the tax office
Capital, savings and investments
Examples of evidence of capital, savings and investments include:
- all your bank, building society or post office books
- full bank statements
- certificates for premium bonds
- National Savings Certificates
- TESSAs
- ISAs
- stocks and shares
- bonds
- unit trusts
We need to see evidence of any interest or dividends you get on investments and savings.
We need to see this evidence for any children in your household as well.
The evidence you send must show details of at least the last 2 months.
Private rent and tenancy
Examples of private rent and tenancy include:
- rent book
- rent receipts
- tenancy agreement
- letter from your landlord
Earnings
We need to see your last 5 payslips if you are paid every week, the last 3 if you are paid every 2 weeks, or your last 2 if your are paid monthly.
If you or your partner are self-employed we need to see your accounts for the last financial year, or if you have been trading for less than 6 months, a summary of your trading records so far.
If you cannot get wage slips, we might contact your employer to confirm details.
Other income
Examples of evidence of other income include:
- pension slips from a former employer
- a letter from the court showing how much maintenance you are getting
We need to see evidence of any money people pay you for board and lodgings.
Benefits, allowances or pensions
Examples of evidence of benefits, allowances or pensions include:
- current award notices
- letters from the Department of Work and Pensions or the tax office confirming how much you get
If you do not have evidence, let us know straight away.
We will fully disregard income from War Widows (Widowers), War Disablement Pension and the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme when we assess your entitlement to Council Tax Support. You can find more information in our war pension and armed forces compensation disregard policy in schedule 6 of our Council Tax Support scheme
Other money paid out
Examples of evidence of money paid out include:
- letters about student grants or maintenance
- agreements or receipts from registered childcarers
You can provide the evidence by:
- post (Revenues and Benefits, Civic Centre, The Water Gardens, College Square, Harlow CM20 1WG)
- in person at the Civic Centre
We will make a decision as soon as possible once you have provided all the evidence to support your application.
If you have claimed Housing Benefit from us before, then you can sign up for an online account to be notified as soon as a decision is made.
Receiving payments
We apply your Council Tax reduction to your Council Tax account. This means that your Council Tax bill will show the reduced amount that you have to pay.
Your Council Tax bill is issued at the start of each financial year (1 April). If there are any changes in your circumstances within the year, you will need to let us know as soon as possible.