Council Tax Reduction

You may request that your claim is backdated if you had a valid reason for not applying for Council Tax Reduction earlier. You must show that this reason applied throughout the entire period for which you are requesting a backdate.

Council Tax Reduction can be backdated for up to 3 months for people of pension age. If you qualify for Council Tax Reduction, any entitlement during the 3 months before your application is awarded automatically.

For a working age person, Council Tax Reduction can be backdated for up to 6 months and you must explain why you were unable to claim earlier and show that you had “good cause” throughout the period being backdated.

Some examples of good cause are:

• If you could not immediately claim benefit after leaving hospital.
• If you were ill and had no-one to make a claim on your behalf.
• If you did not understand that you could claim benefit perhaps because of age, inexperience or language difficulties.
• If you have suffered a recent family bereavement.

If you are making a new claim, you do not need to make a separate claim for backdated payments. If you no longer qualify for this benefit but have done in the past, please contact the Operations Team.