Final reminder over single person Council Tax discount

Liverpool City Council is issuing a final reminder to households who receive a 25% single person Council Tax discount to come forward if their circumstances have changed.

There are around 90,000 households that receive the discount. Usually it is given to households where there is only one adult over the age of 18, but in some circumstances there can be more.

Letters were sent to residents late last year to let them know how to cancel their single person discount, and as a result around 1,750 households came forward to say they were no longer entitled. The reminder letter generated an additional £750,000 for the Council to invest in services this financial year.

In the near future, a company will be carrying out a review on behalf of the Council, using several sources to find out how many adults live in a property. If they determine the single person discount is wrong it will be removed and the amount owed backdated.

If there have been no changes to a household, people do not need to take action.

A full list of discounts and exemptions can be found at: https://liverpool.gov.uk/council-tax/discounts-and-exemptions/single-person-discount/.

Deputy Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, Cllr Ruth Bennett, said: “We are grateful to all of the households who came forward during our amnesty last year to let us know they were no longer entitled to a single person discount.

“It is really important that our records are up-to-date so we are billing households correctly and receiving the correct amount of Council Tax.

“We will soon be at the stage where data will be cross-checked to see if official records from other agencies show more than one person lives in a property.

“This is all part of our improvement journey, making sure we are doing all we can to bring in the amount of Council Tax we are owed, which helps fund essential services.”