Martin Lewis explains how to claim council tax discount after April rise

Martin Lewis reveals how to claim discount on council tax after ‘awful April’ rises Source: Good Morning Britain, ITV

Transcript

00:00So, the first thing I'd say on council tax is up to 400,000 people in England and Scotland are in the wrong band to hire band.

00:06I launched a check and challenge system on this in 2007.

00:10People can go, it's available, lots of people can go and read that one online.

00:13Effectively, what you need to do is go on to voa.gov.uk to check your council tax bands and neighbours in identical property,

00:20or if you're in Scotland, saa.gov.uk.

00:23If you are in a higher band than neighbours in identical properties,

00:26then you need to work out what band you would have been in 1991.

00:30If that shows you're in too high a band, then you need to look at going forward to get your band lowered.

00:34But equally importantly, many people are missing out on discounts.

00:37There's the single adult discount, which gives you 25% off.

00:41So, anybody who's...

00:45Just taking out the voices in your ear.

00:46Yes, because I can't do this and have someone talk to me at the same time.

00:48No, I'll just listen to them, don't worry.

00:50So, you've got 25% off if you're a single adult.

00:53And that means if you're living with children or you're living with full-time students,

00:56all of that, you're still a single adult, you still get 25% off.

00:59Crucially, students living together get a discount.

01:01The one people don't talk about is the severe mental impairment discount for council tax.

01:06Massively under-publicised. Yes.

01:08So, if somebody has a lack of social functioning,

01:12severe dementia will do it, severe Parkinson's, severe stroke are typical examples.

01:17Then, and as well as, if they're eligible for certain benefits, they can be disregarded for council tax,

01:21which effectively means if they're the only person living in the house, they don't pay council tax.

01:25If they're living with one other adult, that other adult gets a single-person discount.