Advice required RE PIP and Council Tax

FrannySpanny63

Good evening everyone,

I'm writing on behalf of my parents with an issue they've had (and I've been trying to get answers for!) for over a year now.

As we know, Central Government guidance states that PIP is NOT counted as income.

For many years (until last year) my parents have received a Council Tax reduction because my Dad is an enhanced PIP recipient, and my mother receives the carers allowance.

As of last year, their local council has decided to class PIP as income, which means they no longer receive the Council Tax reduction - meaning they're £130 worse off a month, which as most know, is a LOT, with the cost of living and the additional expenses faced by disabled people.

I have reached out the council after contacting Scope directly for advice, and I heard nothing back, so I contacted their local MP, who has received a response but it does not state why they are going against Central Government guidance regarding PIP as income and how they have come to this decision.

Has anyone else faced this issue? If so, were you able to find out why/how a local council can disregard the central gov guidance on this benefit?

It's infuriating to see how this has, and continues to, impact my parents, and there must be hundreds of others facing the same problem.

I think my next step will be to go down the formal appeals process with the council, as I believe they have to respond within 2 months, and if they don't, it can be escalated to the Valuation Tribunal Service.

I just wonder if anyone else has tried to fight this in their own councils and if they had any luck - it just doesn't make sense to me that they can take this decision with zero consultation and that goes directly against existing guidance.

Thanks for reading my rant!

Franny

Kimi87

Council Tax Reduction is decided on at a local level and each local authority has different rules for this.

The only area they must follow Government is Council Tax Discounts which is totally separate to CTR, which is a local authority administered benefit.

Rachel_Scope

Hi @FrannySpanny63 and welcome to the community. I'm sorry your parents are going through this. I've just looked this up and yes, some councils now count PIP as income. It would be very interesting to know how they come to this decision, but we may never know. Hopefully someone else has experienced this so they can advise you on what they did.