UC with ESA, Now stopped Council Tax support

Chris_Dee
Chris_Dee Online Community Member Posts: 11 Listener
in Universal Credit (UC)

In June last year I migrated from ESA (support group) to UC with an ESA element (contribution based). As a precaution I contacted the local Council and asked about council tax support. I was told it would all automatically be transferred over, and I continued to receive it. Fast forward to today and I have received 2 letters telling me that from the 8th Dec I was no longer entitled to it due to my ESA payments (there has been no change in the amount paid since July 2025). I'm now faced with a back payment of £260, and a yearly Council Tax payment increase of £932 on top of what I paid last year.

I rang the council CT dept' and they said they had only been notified by CIS/ATLAS of my ESA payments in the 14th Jan 26, so they may well claw it all back to July last year. The thing is having transferred over to UC once housing is deducted I'm no better off than when I was claiming ESA with housing benefit and council tax support.

Do you think they have wrongly stopped my entitlement to CT support, or have I been royally stuffed by their communication? Not sure where to go from here, any suggestions or advice appreciated.

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Comments

  • Kimi87
    Kimi87 Online Community Member Posts: 8,128 Championing

    Council Tax Reduction is decided on at a local level and each local authority has different rules for this, meaning it's very hard to advise on individual cases from here.

    Some local areas do treat UC differently to legacy benefits and some people have seen an increase in the amount of CT they have to pay.

    I would suggest speaking to a local welfare rights organisation who should be familiar with the CTR rules for your area.

    https://advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk/

  • Rosie_Scope
    Rosie_Scope Posts: 7,544 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    Hi @Chris_Dee, Kimi87 is right here, this can vary a lot from council to council. Unfortunately there can be differences between UC and ESA and the council tax reduction eligibility, which can be difficult to transition into. As Kimi suggested, it's well worth contacting a professional to see if they can look into things for you. Hope you're able to get some clarity on it soon.

  • Chris_Dee
    Chris_Dee Online Community Member Posts: 11 Listener

    Thanks for the input everyone, I'll ring my local citizens advice and see if they are equipped to calculate it and give an assessment.

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