Council Tax Reduction in Scotland 2019-2020

Glossary and Things you Need to Know about this Release

Passporting benefits – Receipt of one of the following benefits for those on lower income has the practical effect of automatically qualifying the recipient for full CTR:

• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance – paid to those who are unemployed and are on a low income.
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance – paid to those on a low income whose ability to work is limited by illness or disability.
• Income Support – paid to those on a low income and under state pension age.
• Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit) – paid to those on a low income who are over the qualifying age.

Note: UC replaces the above four benefits that currently passports recipients to full CTR (except where non-dependents are present in the household), as well as two tax credits.

Applicable Amount – The amount of money that the CTR scheme says is required for a household to live on. This consists of a personal allowance (which varies depending on age and household characteristics), plus any relevant additional premiums. For example, if the applicant is a carer, they would receive the relevant personal allowance plus a carer premium. Some examples of personal allowances and premiums for 2019-20 are given in Table 1.

Disregarded Income - A certain amount of income that is not taken into consideration when determining eligibility for CTR.

¹ The child personal element rose by 25% on 1 April 2017.
² This table lists some of the more common personal allowances and premiums and is not comprehensive.

Excess Income – The amount left after deducting the household's applicable amount from their total income. The household's total income is the total sum of their income from employment, pensions and benefits (although some income may be disregarded).

Income Assessment – Undergone by applicants not in receipt of a passporting benefit, and who have less than £16,000 in savings, to determine their eligibility for CTR. The income assessment compares the household's income (as defined as being taken into account when assessing CTR) and their applicable amount.

• If total income (after appropriate disregards) is less than the applicable amount then full CTR will be awarded.
• If total income (after appropriate disregards) is greater than applicable amount then the household is expected to contribute 20 per cent of their excess income to their Council Tax liability. This results in a tapering effect, where CTR awards decrease as income increases.

Full CTR – The amount of CTR awarded is equal to the full amount of Council Tax liability for the applicant.

For example, if the applicant lived in a Council Tax Band C house in Edinburgh, and their weekly Council Tax liability was £21.78 in 2019-20. If they receive full CTR, their award would equal their liability (£21.78) and the amount of Council Tax payable would be zero.

Partial CTR – The household contributes 20 per cent of their excess income towards their Council Tax liability and the remainder of the liability is the CTR award. Figure 2 provides an illustrative example of a partial CTR calculation.