Claim Council Tax Support if you are on a low income

If you are on a low income, you may qualify for Council Tax Support. You can apply whether you are working or not.

Council Tax Support is deducted from your bill. The amount you qualify for depends on your circumstances.

Universal Credit does not replace Local Council Tax Support. You still need to apply for Council Tax Support. 

How to get help with free school meals

If you claim council tax support we will use that application form to automatically assess eligibility for free school meals. If you do not want us to assess your entitlement please contact us. Visit our free school meals webpage for more information.

How we work out your Council Tax Support

Council Tax Support is deducted from your Council Tax bill.

If you are of pension age you can get support towards your bill up to a maximum of 100% of your Council Tax. If you are of working age, you can get support up to a maximum of 91.5% of your bill.

To work out Council Tax Support in Gateshead, your weekly income and any capital you have is compared to a standard weekly amount (applicable amount). That amount is made up of elements which take into account whether you are single, part of a couple, disabled and so on. For those of working age, some of your weekly earned income is also ignored, for example £10 a week for a single person (see Principle 2 below).

If your weekly income is below your applicable amount, you will get maximum help with your Council Tax. 

If your weekly income is above your applicable amount, support is reduced by 20% of the amount your weekly income exceeds the applicable amount.  

Single pensioner example

Your weekly Council Tax is £20.
The maximum weekly help you can get towards your Council Tax before taking any income into account is £20.
Applicable amount is £100 and your weekly unearned income is £110. As your income is £10 more than your applicable amount, 20% of this is £2.
Council Tax Support = £20 (maximum weekly Council Tax) minus £2 = £18 per week Council Tax Support.

Single working age example

Your weekly Council Tax is £20.
The maximum weekly help you can get towards your Council Tax before taking any income into account is £18.30 (91.5% of £20).
Applicable amount is £100 and your weekly earned income is £115, but £10 of this is ignored, leaving £105.
Because this is £5 more than your applicable amount of £100, 20% of this is £1.
Council Tax Support = £18.30 (maximum weekly Council Tax) minus £1 = £17.30 per week Council Tax Support.

These figures are just examples. The amounts can change each year and are contained in the Gateshead Council Local Council Tax Support Scheme in full.

We will ask you for the information or evidence we need to work out your reduction.

If you are self-employed, we will base your earnings on your income minus expenses - usually a weekly amount calculated by looking at your income and expenses over a six-month period. If you are of working age and have been self-employed for more than a year, and your self-employed earnings are below the National Minimum Wage, the weekly figure we will use as your earnings will be the number of hours you say you work each week multiplied by the hourly National Minimum Wage rate.

Gateshead's scheme has eight principles

1. Protection will be given to certain groups. 
   
   If you are a pensioner you could receive Council Tax Support up to a maximum of 100% of your bill, depending on your weekly income and other circumstances.
    
2. The scheme should encourage people to work.
   
   Part of your weekly earnings after tax, National Insurance and 50% of any contribution towards a pension, are ignored. For those of working age, £10 a week of a single person's earnings and £15 a week of a couple's earnings are ignored. 
   
   For those of pension age, £5 a week of a single person's earnings and £10 a week of a couple's earnings are ignored. 
   
   For a lone parent, £25 a week of any earnings are ignored.
    
3. Everyone in the household should contribute.
   
   The amount of support may be reduced when another adult lives in the house who is not the claimant's partner. This is because any other adult should also make a contribution towards the household expenses depending on their income.
   
   The amount of reduction will depend on the gross income of the other adult. 
    
4. Benefit should not be paid to those with relatively large capital or savings - this is usually the amount of capital or savings you have when you make your claim, though we may ask you to provide up-to-date information from time to time and reassess the amount of help you get if necessary.
   
   Capital below £6,000 will not be taken into account at all for working-age people; capital below £10,000 will not be taken into account for people of pension age. 
   
   If you have capital over £16,000 you will only get help under the scheme if you get Guarantee Pension Credit. 
   
   The level of support will alter if you have capital between £6,000 (working age) or £10,000 (pension age) and £16,000. This is because for every £250 of capital you have over £6,000 if you are working age, and every £500 of capital over £10,000 if you are pension age, you will be treated as having £1 of income.
    
5. War pensions are ignored when working out the level of support.
6. There will be a minimum level of support. If you were to get less than £1 a week, your bill would not be reduced. This only applies to people of working age.
7. Child Benefit is not counted.
8. There is the ability to award a discretionary reduction if we consider someone needs extra support in exceptional circumstances. These will be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the particular circumstances of the applicant.

Review of the scheme

We are required to review the scheme annually and have decided to make no changes to the scheme from 1 April 2024. The final scheme for the year commencing 1 April 2024 was determined by us in November 2023 and is published below.

Anyone who received Council Tax Support under the 2023 to 2024 scheme will automatically have their entitlement to a reduction under the 2024 to 25 scheme calculated. 

Changes to your circumstances

Let us know of any changes to your circumstances. This could include things like changes to your earned or unearned income, capital or family make up.

If you do not tell us, it might mean you are not getting the correct amount of support. If we find out more than a month after the change has happened, and you should have been getting more help, we will only change the amount of Council Tax Support from the date you tell us, so you could lose out.

If you delay telling us and we have been giving you too much Council Tax Support, we will work out how much you should have received based on your new circumstances, from the date the change happened, and send you a revised bill. This could mean you have a large sum of Council Tax to pay. If we have made a mistake and given you too much Council Tax Support, and we think you could not have realised we had done this, we will consider only applying the change from the date we realise.

Council Tax discretionary reduction

Our Council Tax Support scheme also contains the ability to make a discretionary reduction where there is a genuine need and the customer needs further financial help or there are exceptional circumstances. 

If you disagree with a decision we have made about your support, you can challenge this. 

Gateshead Council Local Council Tax Support Scheme in full