Which Council Tax discount can you get? Every reduction explained

Council Tax discounts at a glance: what each one takes off

A Council Tax discount can take 25%, 50% or 100% off your bill, depending on who lives with you, and a separate means-tested scheme called Council Tax Reduction can cut it by up to 100% if your income is low. According to GOV.UK, a full Council Tax bill assumes at least 2 adults live in the home, so most discounts work by counting fewer adults.

You have to apply for every one of them. GOV.UK says you need to apply for a discount or an exemption "even if you're disregarded", so nothing below is taken off your bill automatically.

Discounts stack in a set order: the Disabled Band Reduction lowers the band first, the 25% or 50% discount comes off that lower figure, and Council Tax Reduction is worked out on what is left. You can see the effect on your own bill with our Council Tax calculator, which applies the single person discount and Disabled Band Reduction to your council's 2026/27 figures.

The single person discount takes 25% off when you are the only adult counted

The single person discount is 25% off your Council Tax bill if you are the only adult in the home, or if every other adult is disregarded. Section 11 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 sets the "appropriate percentage" at 25% for one counted resident and twice that, 50%, when nobody counted lives there.

The discount does not depend on your income, your savings or your age. Children under 18 are never counted, so a single parent living only with children gets the full 25%. A couple who separate can claim it from the day one partner moves out for good.

GOV.UK warns that if you get a discount by mistake, for example because a partner moves in, you must tell your council or you could get a fine, and the council may ask you to pay the discount back. If your council sends a single person discount review letter, reply by its deadline with your current household details.

Disregarded people: who does not count as an adult for Council Tax

A disregarded person is an adult who lives in the home but is not counted when the council works out whether you get a 25% or 50% discount. According to GOV.UK, you are disregarded if you are:

• under 18, or 18 or 19 and in full-time education;
• a full-time student at college or university, or a student nurse;
• on certain apprentice schemes, paid no more than £195 a week and training for an accredited qualification;
• under 25 and funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency;
• a foreign language assistant registered with the British Council;
• severely mentally impaired;
• a live-in carer for someone who is not your partner, spouse or child under 18;
• a diplomat.

Schedule 1 to the 1992 Act adds people in prison or detained under mental health law, long-term hospital patients, care home residents and some hostel residents. Scotland also disregards care leavers under 26, according to mygov.scot, and Wales lists care leavers and people hosted under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, according to gov.wales.

The carer disregard has four conditions

According to the Council Tax (Additional Provisions for Discount Disregards) Regulations 1992, a live-in carer is disregarded only if they care for at least 35 hours a week on average, live in the same home, are not the person's partner or the parent of a child under 18 in their care, and the person cared for gets one of these benefits: Attendance Allowance, the middle or highest rate care component of Disability Living Allowance, the standard or enhanced daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Armed Forces Independence Payment, or certain constant attendance increases. The Welsh Government says you do not need to get Carer's Allowance, and your own income and savings do not matter.

So a daughter caring full time for her mother, who gets Attendance Allowance, is disregarded. If the mother is also severely mentally impaired, both are disregarded and the bill falls by 50%.

Severe mental impairment, including dementia, can mean 25%, 50% or no bill

A person with a severe mental impairment is disregarded for Council Tax, and a home where everyone is severely mentally impaired is exempt. The 1992 Act defines it as "a severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning (however caused) which appears to be permanent". The Welsh Government, which now calls it a significant cognitive impairment, gives Alzheimer's disease and other dementia, Parkinson's disease, severe learning difficulties and stroke as conditions that can lead to it, while stressing that a diagnosis alone does not qualify anyone.

Two things are needed. First, a certificate from a registered medical practitioner such as a GP. Second, a qualifying benefit: according to article 3 of the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1992, these include Attendance Allowance, the middle or highest rate care component of Disability Living Allowance, the standard or enhanced daily living component of PIP, Severe Disablement Allowance, and Universal Credit that includes an amount for limited capability for work. Someone over State Pension age who would have qualified for one of these benefits if younger also meets the condition.

According to GOV.UK, the result depends on who else lives there:

• 100% off if you are severely mentally impaired and live alone, or every other adult is severely mentally impaired or a full-time student (exempt Class U in the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) Order 1992);
• 50% off if everyone else in the home is disregarded, for example a qualifying live-in carer;
• 25% off for the one remaining adult who lives with someone severely mentally impaired and no other counted adult.

Full-time students: exempt households and the discount if you live with a non-student

A home where everyone is a full-time student does not have to pay Council Tax. This is exemption Class N in the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) Order 1992, and student halls of residence are exempt under Class M.

According to GOV.UK, to count as a full-time student in England and Wales your course must last at least 1 year and involve at least 21 hours of study a week. If you are under 20 and studying up to A level, the course must last at least 3 months with at least 12 hours a week. In Scotland, mygov.scot sets the 21-hour rule against a course of at least 24 weeks a year. Your college or university must give you a student certificate on request, under Schedule 1 to the 1992 Act, and the council will ask for it.

Mixed households still get money off. One non-student living with students is the only adult counted and gets the 25% single person discount. A student's non-British spouse or dependant who is barred from working or claiming benefits by their visa also counts as a relevant person for the Class N exemption.

Part-time students are not disregarded. If your course is under 21 hours a week, you count as an adult for Council Tax.

The Disabled Band Reduction Scheme charges you one band lower

The Disabled Band Reduction Scheme bills your home at the band below its real band if a disabled person needs the extra space. According to GOV.UK, a Band D home pays the Band C rate, and a home already in Band A gets a 17% discount instead. The disabled person can be an adult or a child and does not have to be the bill payer, but the home must be their main home.

You must show the home has at least one of these, according to GOV.UK and gov.wales:

• an extra bathroom or kitchen needed by the disabled person;
• an extra room, or an adapted room, used mainly by the disabled person;
• enough extra indoor space to use a wheelchair.

The Welsh Government adds that the adaptation must be essential or of major importance to the person's well-being, and that outdoor changes such as ramps or handrails alone do not qualify.

The reduction is not means-tested, and receiving PIP or Disability Living Allowance is not required. Under regulation 4 of the Council Tax (Reductions for Disabilities) Regulations 1992, a Band A home pays five ninths of the Band D charge instead of six ninths, which is where the 17% comes from, and any 25% or 50% discount is then taken off the reduced figure.

Worked example: a single person in a Band C home in Leeds, 2026/27

A single person in a Band C home in Leeds pays £1,522.49 for 2026/27 after the 25% discount, instead of £2,029.98. These figures come from the Leeds area average Band D of £2,283.73 for 2026/27 (MHCLG, including the average parish precept), with Council Tax band C set at 8/9 of Band D, as used on our Leeds Council Tax page.

The single person discount saves £507.49 a year. Adding the Disabled Band Reduction saves a further £190.32, for £697.81 in total. In a Band A home in Leeds, a single disabled person would pay £951.56 instead of £1,522.49, because Band A with the reduction is charged at 5/9 of Band D before the 25% comes off.

The same household elsewhere pays different amounts: a single person in Band C pays £1,137.33 in Glasgow (excluding Scottish Water charges) and £1,342.12 in Cardiff on the 2026/27 area averages. Enter your own council, band and household in the Council Tax calculator to reproduce these figures, or compare councils on the Council Tax by council hub.

Council Tax Reduction is the means-tested help, worth up to 100%

Council Tax Reduction, also called Council Tax Support, is a means-tested reduction for people on a low income or benefits, and it can cut your bill by up to 100%. According to GOV.UK, you can apply whether you own or rent, and whether you are working or unemployed. It used to be called Council Tax Benefit.

What you get depends on where you live, because the rules differ across Great Britain:

• England, working age: each council runs its own scheme. GOV.UK says the amount depends on your income, savings, pensions, your partner's income, your children and other adults living with you. So the maximum award and who qualifies vary between councils: read your council's published scheme.
• England, pension age: the rules are national, set by the Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2012.
• Scotland: one national scheme, the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2021, run by councils. According to mygov.scot it can reduce your bill by up to 100%. No one with capital over £16,000 is entitled, under regulation 66.
• Wales: one national scheme. According to the Welsh Government, you cannot get it with capital of £16,000 or more, unless you are 65 or over and you or your partner get the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit.

Council Tax Reduction is separate from the discounts above and is worked out after them. Getting PIP, Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance does not give you Council Tax Reduction by itself; those benefits matter for the carer and severe mental impairment disregards, while Council Tax Reduction depends on your household's income and savings. If you claim Universal Credit, you still have to apply to your council separately.

Pensioners get the same discounts, plus national reduction rules in England

There is no Council Tax discount for being over 60 or for reaching State Pension age on its own. Pensioners get the same single person discount, disregards and band reduction as anyone else, and a pensioner on a low income can claim Council Tax Reduction under national rules.

In England, the regulations treat you as a pensioner if you have reached the qualifying age for Pension Credit and neither you nor your partner gets Universal Credit or another working-age means-tested benefit. The main rules, from the 2012 England regulations, are:

• If your income is no more than your "applicable amount" (the needs figure the scheme sets for your household), you get the maximum reduction: 100% of your bill after discounts, less any deductions for other adults living with you (non-dependants).
• If your income is higher, the reduction falls by 20p a week for each £1 a week of income over the applicable amount (the regulations say 2 6/7% a day).
• You cannot get it if your capital is over £16,000.

So a pensioner who lives alone on a low income can pay nothing: the 25% discount comes off first, and Council Tax Reduction can cover the remaining 75%.

Empty homes and second homes can cost more, not less

An empty home or second home usually pays full Council Tax, and councils can add a premium on top. According to GOV.UK, your council decides whether to give a discount on a second home or an empty home, and how much.

In England, the government's guidance lists exceptions from the premium for up to 12 months when a home is being actively marketed for sale or let, after probate is granted, or while it needs or is having major repairs. Some empty homes pay nothing at all, according to GOV.UK: the home of someone in prison (other than for not paying a fine or Council Tax), of someone who has moved into a care home or hospital, repossessed homes, and homes that cannot legally be lived in. A home left empty after a death pays nothing until probate is granted, and can stay exempt for up to 6 more months while it remains empty and in the deceased's name.

Backdating: how far back a discount or reduction can go

Discounts and exemptions apply from the day your circumstances qualified, so you can ask for them to be backdated, while Council Tax Reduction backdating is limited. Section 11 of the 1992 Act gives the discount "in respect of any chargeable dwelling and any day" on which the conditions are met, which is why you can ask the council to apply a single person discount from the date your partner moved out, as long as you can show when that happened.

Council Tax Reduction works differently:

• England, pension age: under Schedule 8 of the 2012 England regulations, an application can cover any day in the 3 months before it is made, if you were entitled on those days.
• England, working age: backdating is set by each council's own scheme, and many require you to show a good reason for not claiming sooner. Check your council's policy.
• Scotland: under regulation 26 of the 2021 regulations, if you tell the council you want to apply and return the completed form within 1 month, the claim runs from the date you first got in touch. Phone or email the council the day you decide to claim.

For a severe mental impairment disregard or the Disabled Band Reduction, give the date the certificate or adaptation covers and ask the council to apply it from then. GOV.UK says to contact your council if you have paid too much and have not had an automatic refund.

How to claim a Council Tax discount, and what to do next

You claim every Council Tax discount, exemption and reduction from the council that sends your bill, usually through an online form on its website. GOV.UK's "Apply for Council Tax Reduction" service finds your council from your postcode.

1. List who lives with you and mark anyone disregarded: students, under-18s, qualifying carers, anyone severely mentally impaired.
2. Gather evidence: student certificates, a GP's certificate and benefit award letter for severe mental impairment, or details of the extra room or wheelchair space for the band reduction.
3. Apply for the discount and ask for it from the date your circumstances changed.
4. Apply separately for Council Tax Reduction if your income is low, with your income, savings and household details.
5. Check the new bill against the Council Tax calculator once the council recalculates it.

If your bill still looks too high because the band itself seems wrong, read how to check and challenge your Council Tax band, because a lower band reduces every discount's starting point.