For council tax discount purposes, some people are disregarded when we assess the number of adults living in a property. This means that the bill for a property where one of the two adult residents is disregarded will be the same as that for a property with one adult resident (bill reduced by 25% discount). If however there are three or more adult residents and only one is disregarded, there will be no entitlement to discount because there will still be two adults counted.
If a disregarded person lives alone, then only the property element of the bill is payable (50%).
Before you start
The following categories of people are disregarded when we count the number of adults living in a property:
- full-time students, student nurses, apprentices and people on youth training schemes
- patients living in hospital long term
- patients in nursing homes, mental nursing homes, residential care homes, hospices and hostels providing a high level of care
- people who are severely mentally impaired and are entitled to certain state benefits
- people in prison or on remand and people kept in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983
- people staying in certain hostels or night shelters (who would otherwise have no home at all)
- school leavers under 20 years who have left school between 30 April and 1 November of the year in question
- some husbands, wives or dependants of students who are not British citizens and who are not allowed by the Home Office to take a job or claim benefits
- 18 to 19 year olds for whom child benefit is paid
- care workers, working on low pay usually for a charity or local authority
- people who care for someone with a disability who is not their partner or a child under 18 years, if the person receiving care is entitled to certain state benefits
- a person who is a member of an organisation listed under the International Headquarters and Defence Organisations Act 1964, and his/her dependents
- people who are members of visiting force as set out in the Visiting Forces Act 1952
- members of religious communities who receive no income
- people with diplomatic immunity