ESA to UC - COUNCIL TAX

Hi Everyone,

I was on income related ESA, with E D P and the S D P , and PIP ER in both groups, with both my Housing Benefit, and Council Tax paid in full.
Then came the Migration to UC. And I have just received my first UC payment and all was going well or so I thought. My UC payment was correct and included HB paid in full.

But today I received a council Tax bill, and I was expecting it to say amount due: 00.00 But it did not instead it said amount due: £1,200. apparently discounted down from £2,211.86 the discount just states "Reduction Scheme"?

I even too the precaution of contacting the council prior to my migration, and was told basically your council tax should remain unaffected, and still be paid in full after migration, if your health conditions remain the same, which they do, except now I have had to add Cancer to them., so this is a very stressful time for me.

Is this an error by the council? I am dreading phoning them to ask what has happened, as I am not too good on the phone. I just cannot see how I am now eligible to pay Council Tax when for years prior to UC I did not.

Anyone who knows what might have happened, answers greatly received.

Navigator.

Thanks for your reply, but your examples do not fit my circumstances.

Navigator

UPDATE:

Upon contacting the council today, I was told that it is likely that the processing of my information was carried out (Automatically) I.e.. lets blame the computer system. No I am waiting for a real person to confirm that my 100% CTR is back in place.

I just wanted to make other members aware that apparently this mis-calculation of Council Tax is happening all over the country. and people who had previously a 100% CTR are now being asked to pay varying amounts depending on their local councils policy, which are not always correct.
So dont let your CTR go unchallenged, if you are suddenly being asked to pay, as it may be an error, that their computer is responsible for......

Hi Navigator

May I ask if the reason you don't pay any Council Tax is because you are in receipt of "Severe Mental Impairment" ?

The reason I ask is that I am currently in recepit of this and therefore don't pay any Council Tax. I will be migrating over to UC within the next few weeks and this is an area of concern for me.

Kind Regards

Hi Sougal,

Yes is the short answer, To qualify for a Council Tax discount under SMI, two key criteria must be met: Medical Diagnosis or Certification.

You must be diagnosed by a doctor as having a permanent condition that severely affects your intellectual or social functioning — this can include: Dementia

Severe learning difficulties

Severe mental illnesses, such as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, etc., if they cause significant and lasting impairment

Neurological conditions that cause cognitive decline or dysfunction (like Mild Cognitive Impairment)

Here's the key issue: you were already receiving full Council Tax Reduction (CTR) before your Universal Credit (UC) migration, based on the same medical conditions. Logically, nothing about your health has improved,

If you do get a council tax bill, challenge it immediately, and dont wait. usually you have 21 days to do this, but other councils may offer more or less days, check the CTD letter to see how long you have.
But hopefully you wont need it.....