Hello can anyone help me with council tax and income

jaisouls

hello hopefully some one can help I’m getting ever so lost and confused.

I receive high rate pip my partner cares for me and so receives weekly carers allowance. We have a child.
We receive monthly UC elements of- Uc couple rate both over 25, child element, LCWRA, carer element and housing element.

This year our council tax bill has over doubled yet we are on the same income as the previous years. Obviously the benefit amounts rise a little with the tax years but that’s the same for everyone and hasn’t affected our help previously. Same with the council tax bill, it raises every year by about 5% to cover costs of the community. I get all that.

But the council are now saying compared to last year we now have extra money coming in. This I told them no we do not. After speaking with them on numerous occasions I’ve finally had the answer and it has transpired as it’s the carers allowance which they are saying is the extra money. My argument was we’ve had that for a few years though, it’s never made our bill double in other words it’s never meant we get less help. Where is this extra money to pay this increase meant to come from?

So it would seem it’s this that has tipped us over into a higher income bracket. their rules state on their website that the only elements they use as income to calculate council tax reduction are the standard couple and child income from UC. Carers allowance isn’t even mentioned on their website at all as either being counted or not being counted. So I can’t say.
I think I’ve worked out that by adding all the Uc elements together that we receive and deducting the ones they don’t count, does actually total the weekly income amount they are saying we have. So technically they are correct!! But where does carers allowance come off then? Does it come off split 4 ways from all elements of UC? (Obviously not including housing as that’s the rent money)!?
As if that’s the case the full couple rate and child element that my council use as income isn’t actually the amount we receive is it?

The other thing I can’t get my head round is what we get paid isn’t these 5 elements added together - (well, it is, but then off that amount comes the carers allowance)!!

So surely they should use the calculation of the 5 weekly UC elements added together totalling a total, then take off the elements they disregard, followed by minus the weekly carers allowance and that gives the council our weekly total? It’s seems they do that but then they add the carers allowance back on as income?

My argument to them has been the max UC calculation they are using isn’t what we get paid But my council are saying yes but you get carers allowance every Monday. I’m confused now as technically that’s correct but I thought because we then have it deducted making our UC lower it shouldn’t be added back on and classed as income. I thought as it’s taken off £ for £ you were just better off with the carer monthly element on UC whether you claim carers allowance or not as whatever you get gets taken away from UC. My local council are adamant we get both and keep both the carers allowance and the carer element. Hence they use the carers allowance in their calculation!!

This has really confused me and made me wonder more about carers allowance in general. Does everyone that gets carers Allowance and UC keep the carers allowance then? Even though it’s deducted off UC every month? They can’t do!

Every benefit calculator I use tells me I should be getting 75% council tax reduction as before (all these website are deducting the carers allowance off the calculation as first using the max UC amount which we don’t actually ever get paid)

This same amount is even mentioned on my full UC max amount on every assessment period statment too before deductions are made so it’s definitely right

What’s even weirder is my councils own benefit calculator is even saying we are entitled to 75% reduction yet it’s not what they are giving us! We are struggling to pay double every month. I don’t know how to raise this problem. No one seems to understand what I’m arguing lol and this isn’t helping with my current health situation. I’ve had two warnings now as behind paying.

thanks so much for whoever reads this hopefully you understand me :(

poppy123456

Unfortunately, this isn't something we can advise on because all local authorities have their own rules. You could have someone in one area paying £10 and someone else in another area on the same income and paying more than double that.

jaisouls

ok Poppy I understand thank you tho for taking the time to read , I’m guessing you understand me lol which has already eased my anxiety. How would I go about moving forward with this though?
There is something I would like explained as no one can ever answer me.

Carers allowance.

We don’t actually receive it as such do we? As it’s deducted from what we’d normally be entitled to (the higher UC amount) all we get is the carers element or am I wrong ?

poppy123456

It's still be received, even though it's being deducted from UC. If you weren't receiving it then the deduction wouldn't be made. I can see where you're coming from as it doesn't make sense what they are saying. I'm sorry I can't really give any advice.

jaisouls

Morning Poppy thanks for your reply. So just to clarify- ok, so you mean we do get carers allowance and keep that income?

I thought the receiving it and then having it deducted from UC meant we don’t keep it, It kind of cancels itself out?

sorry to be a pain. I get easily confused!

poppy123456

You still keep carers allowance, there’s just no financial gain to claiming it. Unless you live in Scotland.

jaisouls

right ok so you mean the only things beneficial to receiving it are the class one contributions and that there would be no need to look for work/attend work focused interviews.
as in the actual income it’s taken back by UC.

jaisouls

(oh and also makes you disregarded from the benefit cap also)

poppy123456

You wouldn't be affected by the benefit cap anyway because you're claiming daily living PIP. There's no work commitments expected from anyone claiming either carers element of UC or CA. You don't need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to carers element.

Therefore the only gain here for your partner is the class 1 NI credits, where as for UC it's only class 3.

jaisouls

ok Poppy thank you for your help and knowledge! It would seem I need to argue this to my council then as it’s clear we do not keep our carers allowance and yet they add it back on as income to our weekly amount like we do indeed keep it which now pushes us into a higher income category. It’s so unfair as the carers has never affected our council tax before! Wish me luck I’ve already asked for a reconsideration and got told tough so next step is an appeal :(