From Sunday 31 March at 6.45pm to Monday 1 April at 6pm, our customer portal will be unavailable due to system maintenance. This means that you will not be able to complete an application for Council Tax Reduction.
Our Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2024/25 will be changing from 1 April 2024.
Will I qualify?
Before you complete an application form please check the information below to see whether you qualify for a Council Tax Reduction. This will save you time filling in a form and submitting evidence if you are not going to qualify.
You may wish to use our Benefits Calculator to see if you will qualify. This will also tell you about other benefits and support you may be eligible for.
You must be the person liable to pay Council Tax - this means your name is on the Council Tax bill and your savings, if you have any, must be less than £16,000.
At a glance - Working Age
This means anyone over 18 who has not reached the age they can claim State Retirement Pension.
If you or your partner receive any of the following
- Disability Living Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
You will qualify for Council Tax Reduction. The Maximum Council Tax reduction you will receive will be 85% of your total Council Tax charge.
If you or your partner do not receive a disability benefit, you will not qualify if your net weekly earnings are over:
- £313.00 per week/£1356.33 pcm - for people with one or more children living with them
- £234.00 per week/£1014 per month - for people with no dependent children living with them
Council Tax Reduction will be based on your circumstances but may be reduced for each adult you have living with you
- If they are not working the deduction is £5.00 per week
- If they are working the deduction is £12.00 per week
This could mean you won't qualify for Council Tax Reduction.
Universal Credit - if you have recently applied for Universal Credit and ticked that you would like to claim Council Tax Reduction, your application should be forwarded to us, so you will not need to complete an online claim form. We will work out if you qualify and let you know. We will contact you if we need more information first.
If you are making a claim for Council Tax Reduction and already receive Universal Credit you should submit proof of your Universal Credit award when you complete your application form, this can be accessed from your online journal. Here is an example Universal Credit monthly statement (PDF 109KB)
At a glance - Pension Age
This means the age you can claim State Retirement Pension
If you or your partner receive any of the following
- Disability Living Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
Council Tax Reduction will be based on your circumstances. The maximum Council Tax Reduction you receive will be 100% of your Council Tax charge.
If you or your partner do not receive a disability benefit Council Tax Reduction will be based on your circumstances but may be reduced for each adult you have living with you, depending on their income. This could mean you won't qualify for Council Tax reduction.
For more detailed information about our Council Tax Reduction Scheme, please visit Council Tax Reduction Scheme.
Apply for Council Tax Reduction
What proof do you need to see to support my application?
You will be required to provide the following documentation to support your application:
Identity for you and your partner
- Birth certificate
- Marriage certificate
- Current passport
- Medical card
- Driving license in photo card format
- UK residence permit
- EEC identity card
- Letter from a government department
National Insurance number for you and your partner
- National Insurance number card
- P60 or payslip
- Letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
The benefit team will contact you if they require any further documentation.
Other evidence you may be required to submit
- Capital, savings and investments for you and your partner
- Earnings for you, your partner and any other non-dependants living with you
- Self-employed earnings for you and your partner
- Other income for you, your partner and other adults living with you
- Childcare costs
- Benefits, allowances or pensions for you, your partner and any other adults living with you
- An acceptable Universal Credit monthly statement (PDF 109KB)
The document you provide must show:
- Payment period
- Claimant's name(s)
- All allowances for the claimant's circumstances
- Any earnings that are taken into account
- All deductions for the claimant's circumstances
- Total payment for the month
The best way to provide this document is to download your UC statement by:
- Logging into your Universal Credit account/journal
- Go to the Statement summary page
- Then click into the most recent monthly statement; it will come up on your screen
- Then "Save as PDF"
- Save the document to your device (laptop, computer or phone)
You can then attach the document to an email and send it to housing.benefits@redbridge.gov.uk remember to include your surname and benefit reference in the subject field of your email.
Although you can use 'screenshots', this can be very time consuming as we require all sections, not just the payment amount, and if you do not send all the sections and your monthly award is unclear, it will not be accepted.
How to submit evidence to support your Council Tax Reduction claim:
Files must be in GIF, JPG, JPEG, PDF or PNG format and be a maximum of 20mb in size.
You could:
- take a steady, clear photograph of your documents with your smartphone or tablet
- scan your documents using your home printer if it has scanning capabilities
You can either upload your proof in the online application form or email your documents to us at housing.benefits@redbridge.gov.uk
To find out more about the information we collect from you and how we use it, please review the privacy notice.
How to go back to a claim you have started:
To go back to a claim you have started you will need to enter:
- Your last name
- Your National Insurance number
- Your postcode
- Citizen Access benefit Key - this was sent to you by email when you saved the application you started
- You will be required to answer three security questions
Return to a claim I have started