An elderly father was handed nearly £6,000 after following a little known exemption for the tax touted by Martin Lewis.
Households could cut their council tax to £0 (Image: ITVX)
Money expert Martin Lewis is trying to spread the word about a little-known council tax exemption which could be worth thousands of pounds if you have certain conditions. In the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Podcast, released via BBC Sounds, Apple Music and Spotify, the Money Saving Expert founder revealed that one of his listeners landed the huge payout for his dad from their local council after listening to a piece of Martin’s advice about Severe Mental Impairment Discount for council tax.
In the episode, uploaded on December 22, one listener, Mike, wrote in to Martin with a success story based on his advice. He said: “My ears pricked up some months ago when you talked about potential discounts for mental incapacity on council tax bills. “My elderly father has vascular dementia and thanks to your programme I’ve been able to obtain a 100% discount on his council tax bill, some £2,000+ a year, albeit he already receives a 25% single occupancy discount.
“Additionally the council have refunded some nearly five years of charges, resulting in a refund to his bank account of £5,989.30. Amazing, things are tight with carer costs and increasing tax bills, so this is a lifesaver thanks again.”
Martin explained that this little known exemption can apply to all sorts of conditions.
Martin added: “What it effectively means is someone who has severe loss of social functioning, now it is common with Alzheimer’s, dementia, people who have had severe strokes, somebody who has severe Parkinson’s and who are eligible for certain benefits, many of the standard disability benefits out there. They can get the SMI discount on council tax. It is hideously underpublicised and I do hear of, council officers who, their frontline staff don’t even know how it works.
“I’ve campaigned on it for a long time, Wales actually improved its system hugely, and we need England and Scotland to follow on the same.
Martin added that if you are in a household with two or more people, you pay full council tax. But if there are only two people and one of them has an SMI based on one of the conditions like Alzheimer’s or dementia, it counts like there’s only one person living in the household, so you get the 25% single person discount.
Martin added: “If somebody lives alone and they are disregarded for council tax, then just like an all-student household doesn’t pay council tax, then an all-SMI household doesn’t pay council tax either.”
Martin then added that depending on where you live, you may even get a backdated payment on top, refunding you for years of council tax you were paying when you shouldn’t have been. He added: “Backdating is council by council, though in Wales they have standardised rules.
“So whether you would get a backdated payout or not depends on your individual council’s policy.”
