Carers and care workers

There are two types of carer (as defined by council tax legislation), the professional carer and the “unpaid carer or relative”.

Either could be entitled to a reduction in their Council Tax provided the following criteria are met.

A person will be disregarded if they are:

• engaged to provide care and support to a person on behalf of either a local authority, the Common Council of the City of London, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, the Crown or a charitable body
• employed by a person to whom they are providing care and they were introduced by one of the above
• employed to provide care for at least 24 hours a week, and are paid no more than £44 per week
• resident in premises provided either by the relevant body (i.e. the charity) or by the person to whom they are providing care

A person will be disregarded if they are:

• providing care to a person who is in receipt of
  • i. an attendance allowance under section 65 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(2)
  • ii. the highest or middle rate of the care component of a disability living allowance under section 72(4)(a) of that Act
  • iii. an increase in a constant attendance allowance under the proviso to article 14 of the Personal Injuries (Civilians) Scheme 1983(3), or under article 14(1)(b) of the Naval, Military and Air Forces etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 1983(4)
  • iv. an increase in the rate of his disablement pension under section 104 of that Act
  • v. the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component of personal independence payment under section 78(3) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012
  • vi. armed forces independence payment under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011
• resident in the same dwelling as the person to whom they are providing care
• providing care for at least 35 hours a week on average
• the person for whom they are providing care is over 18 years old and is not the spouse or partner of the carer, or they are providing care to a child under the age of 18 years and they are not the parent of this child

If you want to apply or have a question

Use the Council Tax contact form and choose the following options:

• Under which service would you like to contact us? Select Council Tax
• What would you like to contact us about? Select Something else