Discounts and exemptions
Contents
- Introduction
- Single person discount
- Student
- Severely mentally impaired person (SMI)
- Care leavers
- Carer
- Apprentice, youth trainee or skill seeker
- Disability banding relief
- Person in hospital or care home
- Person in detention or prison
- People who provide care or who are cared for
- Person for whom child benefit is payable
- People under the age of 18
- Unoccupied and unfurnished property
- Unoccupied and furnished property discount (not a second home)
- Changes for second homes
- Estate of deceased person
- Spouse, civil partner, or dependent of foreign student
- School leaver
- Religious communities
- Manse or similar dwelling
- Dwelling repossessed by a mortgage lender
- Job-related dwellings
- Occupation prohibited by law/dwellings empty under statute
- Trustee in bankruptcy
- Voluntary care worker
- Visiting forces accommodation
- Ukraine refugees
Care leavers
Care leavers may qualify for an exemption or discount (depending on the number of adults resident) from council tax that can be applied where a young person is no longer under local authority care.
In Scotland, care leavers are exempt from paying council tax up to their 26th birthday. This exemption was introduced by the Scottish Government in April 2018.
To prove your eligibility, you’ll need to provide documentation, such as a declaration from your local authority or social services confirming your care leaver status.
Please note: you will need to apply for this council tax exemption or discount as it is not automatically granted.
Who can apply?
If you are a care leaver and you live on your own or live with other care leavers, then you may be exempt from paying council tax at your property.
Or if you live with someone else who isn’t a care leaver, they may qualify for a discount.
To qualify as a care leaver, you must be a person who:
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is at least 18 years of age but not yet 26 years of age;
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was on that person’s sixteenth birthday or at any subsequent time “looked after” by a local authority; and
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is no longer “looked after” by a local authority.
Amount of discount you may be eligible for
100% exemption.
If you are a care leaver who is the sole adult resident you will qualify for exemption. If you are a care leaver and live with a second adult, who qualifies to be disregarded, you may be eligible for exemption.
If you live with another person who does not qualify under the care leaver's conditions, then you may be eligible for a discount. When assessing if a discount is applicable, we will need to consider:
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Who is responsible for council tax in the household.
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Any other reductions or exemptions already in place.
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The number of other residents who are over 18 in your household.
We periodically review all exemptions and discounts to confirm eligibility.
We kindly request you to submit the necessary supporting evidence for your application. Please be informed that failure to provide the requested documentation may result in the assessment of your application being delayed or rejected. We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.
How do I apply?
To apply for this discount/exemption where documentary evidence can be provided, sign in or register on our Open Portal account:
If you do not have documentary evidence, please call the council tax section 01698 403210.
Please note: if you are awarded a discount/exemption and the circumstances that led to that discount/exemption change, you must tell us.
