Council Tax Support - help to pay your bill

Council Tax Support gives help to people on a low income who pay Council Tax. 

If you're working age you can get a discount of up to 85% of your bill, and pensioners can get up to 100% discount.

Who can get Council Tax Support?

You can claim if you're liable to pay Council Tax and:

• You (and your partner if you have one) are on a low income or
• You're a single person over pension age and have another adult (or adults) on a low income living with you. This is called Second Adult Rebate.

Council Tax Support doesn't depend on National Insurance contributions and you can apply if you're working or self-employed, out of work, a lone parent, retired, sick or disabled.

Who can't get Council Tax Support?

You can't claim:

• For a property that no-one lives in
• If you have savings of more than £16,000 (unless you also get Guarantee Pension Credit).

Am I working or pension age?  

Use the pension age calculator on the GOV.UK website to find out if you're over pension age.

What about Single Person discount?

If you live alone, you can get a 25% discount which isn't based on your income or savings. You can apply for Council Tax Support as well if you're on a low income.

What if I still can't afford to pay my bill?

If you get Council Tax Support but are struggling to pay the rest of your Council Tax bill, you can apply for a Discretionary Discount.

You can also apply for Discretionary Housing Payments if you get Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit and are having trouble paying your rent.

If you're in severe financial difficulties please get in touch. 

Pay over twelve months, not ten

If you'd like to pay your Council Tax in twelve monthly instalments (from April through to March the next year), please ask for this in writing. You can email or write to us using the Revenues Team contact details.

If you ask us about this after April, we can still spread your remaining payments through to the following March.

Read the full regulations for our scheme

NWLDC Council Tax Support Scheme Regulations 2024/25 (PDF Document, 1.36 Mb)

Find out more about Council Tax Support.

Apply online

Make a claim online