Help to Pay Council Tax

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are means tested benefits. 

If you are in receipt of JobSeekers Allowance (Income based) or Pension Credit Guarantee you will receive maximum eligible benefit. 

If you are on any other benefits and or a low income we do an assessment based on the means testing rules. This is explained below. 

A means test is a comparison with what monies you, and a partner if applicable, have coming in against what the government set as a figure someone in your circumstances can live off (called Applicable Amount).   

• We have rules that tell us how income is to be worked out.  
• The applicable amount takes into account your personal circumstances (for example the figure would be different for a single person to that of a couple with two children) and is up-rated every year in line with inflation.  

Your income is compared against this Applicable Amount.  In summary the bigger the gap (what is called ‘excess income’) the less benefit you get.  

Additional points to note

If you have people who live with you and are over 18 and not your partner, this can effect the amount of benefit you get.

Click on Non Dependent Household Members for more details.

If you have savings, money in the bank this can also effect the amount of benefit you get. Visit our Capital Savings page for more details  

For further details contact the benefit section on 01427 676565