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The Council Tax is based on both the value of a property and the people who live there. All domestic properties are allocated to one of eight bands depending on their value and one bill is sent to each household. Bills may be reduced by discounts, reductions and benefits.
One bill is sent to each dwelling regardless of how many people are living there.
The word dwelling can mean:
(Any properties that are kept for occasional or holiday use may receive a discount or exemption. Your local council will make a decision on this on a case by case basis.)
One or more people may be liable to pay the bill although the household can choose how to divide it up.
Joint responsibility: If people are joint owners or joint tenants they are jointly responsible for the bill. Married couples are jointly responsible, so are a man and woman living together as though they are married and same-sex partners, whether they have a registered civil partnership or not.
When several people are living together, it may be necessary to establish who is responsible for paying. This will depend on their circumstances. For example, if a homeowner and a tenant live together the owner will be responsible. If a tenant is living with someone else such as a friend or lodger then the tenant will be responsible.
Care homes: For care homes, and some hostels or houses in multiple occupation, the owner – not the residents – will be responsible for the bill.
Liability for paying the Council Tax can be complicated and only a fewexamples are given here. Your position may be different so if you need further information contact your council or local advice agency.
There are many ways to reduce your bill, such as through Council Tax Benefit which is means-tested, and discounts and disability reductions which are not means-tested. These reductions apply both to homeowners and people who live in rented accommodation.
Download the Council Tax factsheet (PDF 222 KB)
The following factsheet is only applicable for people over pension age.
Download the Housing and Council Tax Benefit factsheet (PDF 232 KB)
Age UK has launched the more money in your pocket campaign - to help us claim all the money we are owed. Last year‚ Age UK helped put more than £100 million in unclaimed benefits in the pockets of those of us in later life and our carers. Help us to do better this year.
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Downloads
A download is a document (like a research report, a leaflet, or an application form) that can be transferred from our website to your computer. You can download a file, view it on your screen, print it, or save it to your computer.
PDF stands for ‘portable document format’.
Most downloads on this website are PDFs. We use this format to ensure that the document looks the same on everyone’s computer (website pages, by contrast, appear differently depending on how people have set their computer up).
Computers use a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader to download PDFs. If you try clicking on a link to download a PDF and it doesn’t work, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.
The process is quite straightforward and is free.
PDFs cannot be changed. If you need to be able to type into a downloaded document (for example, if we are offering a letter template that you need to put your name on) we will provide it as a Microsoft Word document rather than a PDF. You can then download it, type into it and save it to your computer.
Downloads will open on your computer in a new browser window.
Inside this window (below all your web browser menus), there will be a toolbar with options for you to print or save the document.
Close the browser window to return to the Age UK website.
We have made every effort to make our PDFs accessible to screen readers. Here is an overview of your accessibility options available in Acrobat Reader. Please ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Reader website to ensure that they are included in your version of the programme.
You can use Adobe Reader to read a PDF out loud with the following shortcut keys:
You can also convert a PDF into a web page by following these steps:
You can convert a PDF document into a text file for use with other software and hardware such as Braille printers by opening the PDF and choosing ‘Save as text’ from the File menu.
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The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for a range of benefits and services for pensioners and people planning pensions.
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