Hi, my name is PaulTaraHarry!

PaulTaraHarry
PaulTaraHarry Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
in Benefits and income

Hello- Our son is 26 yrs old and has SMI status. My wife and I are live in carers for our son. My wife gets carers allowance and i work full time- I then work 135 hrs a week looking after our son. We applied for a discount from our local council but only received a 25% discount. Is this correct? i though as our son was SMI disregarded he would get 25% and my wife would get a 25% discount as a live in carer. We submitted all the relevant forms but they are not budging! Any advise would be greatly received-Thanks Paul

Comments

  • yellowpineapple84
    yellowpineapple84 Scope Member Posts: 302 Empowering

    Hi Paul, welcome to the community :) I hope you and your family can feel welcomed here and supported! I’m hoping that someone more knowledgable about this particular question will see this and respond as I don’t know the answer. I have read that to receive a 100% discount all members of the home need to qualify for SMI status but I really don’t know for sure so I hope someone else will respond soon and give you accurate information to go forwards with :)

  • Holly_Scope
    Holly_Scope Posts: 6,409 Online Community Team

    Hi @PaulTaraHarry is this for council tax? 25% seems to be the standard discount applied for those living with a severe disability. It looks as though there's potential to have higher discount should more than one person in the household be living with a severe impairment but it looks from your initial post, that you'd likely fall within the 25% band. Please let me know if this isn't for council tax, but something else and I'll have another look. 😊

  • PaulTaraHarry
    PaulTaraHarry Community Member Posts: 2 Listener

    Hello Holly- thanks for the reply. Our Son Harry is classed as an SMI disregard(their words not mine-horrible words) who lives at home with my wife and I. We are both full time carers with over 100 hrs per week each and my wife gets carers allowance- i work full time so don't benefit. What I'm trying to establish is if both my wife and I are full time live in carers- why does my wife only get the 25% discount and not me, so in essence getting 50% discount. Thanks for your help-Paul

  • Holly_Scope
    Holly_Scope Posts: 6,409 Online Community Team

    Hi @PaulTaraHarry thanks for getting back to me with that information. Unfortunately I think because it's not everybody in your household, it's banded at the 25%. Here's what the descriptors state from the government website:

    You’ll get 50% off your bill if everyone living in your household is disregarded.

    You’ll get 25% off your bill if you pay Council Tax and either:

    • you live on your own
    • everyone else in your home is disregarded

    Link here for full descriptions: How Council Tax works: Who has to pay - GOV.UK

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