Discounts: If someone living in your home meets one of the following criteria the taxpayer may be entitled to a discount because they are not counted for Council Tax purposes:

Where the carer is an employee
The person who is providing the care or support must:

• be providing care or support through a connection with the Crown, a charity, or a local authority
• be employed for at least 24 hours a week
• be paid no more than £36.00 per week
• be resident where the care is given or in premises which have been provided for the better provision of care

Where the carer is a friend or relative
The person who is providing the care or support must be providing care for a person, who is receiving one of the following state benefits: 

• attendance allowance
• the highest rate or middle rate of the care component of a disability living allowance
• the highest rate of disablement pension
• an increase in a constant attendance allowance 

• be resident in the same home as the person to whom care is being provided
• be providing care for at least 35 hours per week on average
• not be living with the person receiving care as husband and wife or caring for their own child who is under the age of 18

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form.

Start your application for this exemption/discount

Exemption for carers who leave home to provide care
If you have left your own home to provide care for someone else you may be entitled to exemption from Council Tax for your former home if the following conditions apply:

• the property concerned must have been your main home and not be anyone else's main home
• you must be providing care or treatment for someone who needs it because of old age, physical or mental disability or, past or present: alcohol dependency, drug dependency or mental illness
• you must have moved home so that you can provide better care for the person you are caring for

Your former home may still be exempt even if you have not moved into the home of the person for whom you are caring.

Camden will probably have to agree with another local council that your main residence has now changed.

If you are a carer whose former home is outside Camden you will need to contact the local council for the area in which it is located.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount

If someone who lives with you suffers from a severe mental impairment they are not counted and the person who pays the Council Tax for your home may be entitled to a discount. Where anyone suffering from such impairment lives alone his or her home is exempt.

Also, if you are a student, who lives with an impaired person, or owns a property occupied only by an impaired person, the property is exempt.

Someone is considered to be suffering from a severe mental impairment if they are entitled to one of a number of specified state benefits, and they have a certificate from a doctor confirming their impairment.

These benefits are:

• Employment and Support Allowance (Income Related)
• Universal Credit (including an amount due to limited capability for work or limited capability for work and work-related activity)
• Incapacity Benefit (ICB) - This is short term ICB, long term ICB and long term ICB for widows and widowers
• Attendance Allowance
• Severe Disablement Allowance - May be included in income support
• Disability Living Allowance Care Component at the middle or higher rate
• Disablement Pension with an increase for constant attendance
• Disability Working Allowance - Only if entitlement based on prior receipt of Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance or where the customer received a disability premium with their Income Support because of incapacity for work. Now being replaced by Disabled Persons Tax Credit
• Unemployability Supplement
• Unemployability Allowance payable under the Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes
• Constant Attendance Allowance payable under the Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes - This is an additional allowance paid as an increase in the rate of benefit. Can be identified from award letters. For instance a war pension breakdown
• Income Support, which includes Disability Premium because of incapacity for work. This can be identified from award letters or the rate of benefit in an order book
• Retirement Pension where the person concerned would have qualified for one of the above except that they are over pensionable age
• Partner’s Job Seekers Allowance where the person concerned is the partner of someone who receives Income Based Job Seekers Allowance and this includes a disability or higher pensioner premium because they:
  • are on long term Incapacity Benefit or
  • were either getting long term Incapacity Benefit before they reached pensionable age and are still alive, or are entitled to Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance, but this is suspended as they are in hospital. 

Someone moving into Camden may already have a certificate from another council to prove that they suffer from a severe mental impairment. In these circumstances the person making a claim for exemption or a discount should just send us a photocopy of this certificate.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount

People living in a hospital, care home or elsewhere to receive care and/or treatment

If:

• you now live in a hospital, care home or at a new address,
• you still own or pay rent for your former home, and,
• no one has lived there since you moved,
• your former home is exempt.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount 

If you are the owner of one of the following types of property you will pay the Council Tax:

• NHS hospital
• mental nursing home
• military hospital
• nursing home 
• residential care home
• bail hostel
• probation hostel
• hostel where care and treatment is given*.

*In this case you must be providing care or treatment for someone who needs it because of old age, physical or mental disability or, past or present alcohol dependency, drug dependency or mental illness.

Any residents who are receiving care and treatment will not be counted when calculating the number of adults living in it. This means you may be entitled to either a 25% or 50% discount.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount

Youth training trainees
You must be under the age of 25 and undergoing training through arrangements made under the Employment Training Act 1973 which is approved under section 29 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefit Act 1992.

Apprentices
You can be considered to be an apprentice if you:

• are employed for the purpose of learning a trade or profession 
• are working towards an accredited NVQ qualification
• earn substantially less than the rate of pay a qualified person would receive
• earn no more than £195 per week

18 to 19 year olds for whom someone receives Child Benefit
Your parents or a guardian must be receiving child benefit for you. This may apply if you are between the ages of 18 and 19 and still at school or college.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount

People who are being held in detention but who have not yet moved out permanently from their home are not counted. Therefore, the person who pays the Council Tax may be entitled to a discount.

This includes people who:

• have been convicted
• are on remand
• are being held awaiting deportation
• are being held under the Mental Health Act

It does not include periods where someone:

• is in police custody and is waiting to be remanded by a court
• who is in prison for non-payment of their Council Tax or a fine

If the person in detention owns or holds a tenancy of the property it is exempt from Council Tax provided that they were the last person to live in it.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount 

Ministers of religion and religious communities

If you are a Minister of Religion the owner of your home pays the council tax, provided that you have no independent income or assets.

If you are a Minister and the owner of the property, then this may be you. A property that is unoccupied because it is being held for the future use of a Minister of Religion is exempt.

The owner of a property occupied by members of a religious community has to pay the council tax. Members of a religious community are not counted if their main occupation is prayer, contemplation, education or the relief of suffering.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount

People who are being held in detention but who have not yet moved out permanently from their home are not counted. Therefore, the person who pays the Council Tax may be entitled to a discount.

This includes people who:

• have been convicted
• are on remand
• are being held awaiting deportation
• are being held under the Mental Health Act

It does not include periods where someone:

• is in police custody and is waiting to be remanded by a court
• who is in prison for non-payment of their Council Tax or a fine

If the person in detention owns or holds a tenancy of the property it is exempt from Council Tax provided that they were the last person to live in it.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount

Members of international headquarters and defence organisations

If you are a member or the dependent of a member of an International Headquarters and Defence Organisation, you are not counted when we work out how many adults live in the property. This means that the person who pays the Council Tax may be entitled to a discount. We will check your status with the Foreign Office.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount

Foreign diplomats

If you are a foreign diplomat and you lease or own the property in which you live, your property is exempt from Council Tax. It will be exempt even if you are jointly liable to pay Council Tax with someone else who is a British Citizen.

However, you must not be permanently resident in the United Kingdom and the property concerned must be your main home in the UK. There is no exemption if the property is your second home in the UK.

If you are sub-letting part of your home to a diplomat they are not counted. Therefore, you may be entitled to a discount.

When we process your claim we will contact the Foreign Office to confirm your diplomatic status.

To complete your application you must print off a copy of the completed form and return to us at the address on the form. 

Start your application for this exemption/discount 

Members of visiting forces

If you are a member or the dependent of a member of a visiting force your home will be exempt. You will have to send us a copy of the certificate issued to you under Section 11 Visiting Forces Act 1952 by your government.

A dependent must not be a British Citizen or permanently resident in the United Kingdom.

If you are sub-letting part of your home to a member of a visiting force they are not counted. Therefore, you may be entitled to a discount.

How do I apply?

Contact the council tax team to request an application form

Night shelters

Anyone who lives in a night shelter is not counted. A night shelter is accommodation that:

• is provided for people of no fixed abode or settled way of life
• is for those who only have a licence to live in it
• is not self-contained

This means that the owner may be entitled to a 50% discount.