Your bill may be reduced if your home has certain features which are essential, or of major importance, to the well-being of a person with a disability, whether an adult or a child who is resident in the property. The qualifying features are as follows:
- A room (other than a bathroom, kitchen or toilet) required for meeting the needs of the person with a disability. For example you might get a reduction if you have an extension or extra room for storing dialysis equipment
- An additional bathroom or kitchen for the use of the person with the disability
- Extra space inside the property to allow for the use of a wheelchair
When considering whether a reduction should apply, we have to decide whether the person with the disability would find it impossible to live in the property, or whether their health would suffer, or the disability became more severe, if the extra features were not available in the property. Simply rearranging rooms - for example, having a bedroom on the ground floor rather than the first floor - is unlikely to make your home eligible for a reduction.
To qualify for a reduction, the extra room need not be specially built but can be an existing room provided that the link between its use and the person's disability is sufficiently strong.
'Disabled person' in this context means a person who is substantially and permanently disabled. The disabled person can be either an adult or a child and does not have to be responsible for paying the Council Tax bill.
For further information or to apply for the reduction, please contact the Revenues team. Please note that we will need to visit you at your property in order to assess your entitlement to this reduction.
