Council tax discounts, exemptions and reductions (2026/27)

Children under 18, full-time students, apprentices on under £195 a week, live-in carers, and people with a severe mental impairment do not count as adults for this purpose. So a parent living alone with two children still qualifies.

The discount is not automatic. You apply through your council, usually with a short online form. Most councils will backdate to when you became the only adult.

If your circumstances change (a partner moves in, or a child turns 18 and is not a student), you must tell your council within 21 days. Continuing to claim incorrectly is fraud.

All occupants must be full-time students. Full-time means a course of at least 21 hours of study a week, lasting 24 weeks or more. Most undergraduate degrees and full-time master's degrees qualify.

If even one occupant is not a full-time student, the household is liable, but the students are disregarded. That usually means the non-student qualifies for the 25 per cent single person discount.

Get an exemption certificate from your university or college. Most universities have an online portal that emails you the certificate. Send it to your council.

Every council runs its own working-age CTR scheme, with rules and maximum reductions that vary. The pension-age scheme is set nationally and follows the old council tax benefit rules, so a state-pension-age claimant generally gets a more generous reduction.

Claim through your council. You will need details of income, savings, household members and rent or mortgage. Universal Credit recipients may be passported into a partial reduction automatically.

Sometimes called council tax support. Backdating is usually limited to one or three months for working age, and longer for pension age.

To qualify, the property must have either an extra room used predominantly by the disabled person (such as a downstairs bedroom), an extra bathroom or kitchen needed because of the disability, or sufficient floor space inside for the use of a wheelchair.

A Band D home with the reduction is billed at the Band C rate. A Band A home gets a reduction equivalent to dropping below A (a special sub-A rate of 5/9 of Band D).

You apply through your council. Some authorities will ask for a letter from a doctor or occupational therapist.

Conditions that may qualify include dementia, severe learning disability, severe stroke effects and some other neurological conditions. The legal test is a permanent severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning.

You need a doctor's certificate confirming the impairment is severe. You also need to show the person is entitled to a qualifying benefit (such as Attendance Allowance, PIP daily living, or Disability Living Allowance care).

If the person with SMI lives alone, the property is fully exempt. If they live with one other adult, that adult gets the 25 per cent single person discount. The Alzheimer's Society and Money Saving Expert have campaigned for years to raise awareness as this discount is widely under-claimed.

Many councils give a short-term discount (often 100 per cent for a month, or 50 per cent for up to six months) on a property left genuinely empty and unfurnished. Some give nothing.

Properties left empty long-term attract a premium under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. Empty for one year: up to 100 per cent extra. Empty for five years: up to 200 per cent extra. Empty for ten years: up to 300 per cent extra.

Class F (probate) and Class L (repossession) exemptions can apply to inherited or repossessed homes. Annexes occupied by relatives may get 50 per cent off.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 gave English councils the power, from 1 April 2025, to charge a 100 per cent premium on furnished homes that are not anyone's main residence. Many councils have adopted it. The Welsh and Scottish governments have similar powers.

There are limited exceptions: properties being actively marketed for sale, homes being renovated, job-related properties such as tied accommodation, and certain inherited homes.

If a property is mistakenly classed as a second home (for example, you have moved in but not updated your council), the premium can be applied in error. Always check the description on your bill.

The full list of disregarded people includes apprentices on under £195 a week, care leavers under 25 (varies by council), full-time carers (not paid more than £44 a week, providing 35+ hours of care), members of religious communities, diplomats, foreign service personnel, school and college leavers aged 18-19 between courses, severely mentally impaired people, full-time students, and people resident in prison or hospital.

If everyone in the household is disregarded but the household is not exempt, the bill is reduced by 50 per cent.

You apply to your council. Some disregards need supporting documentation (an apprentice contract, a doctor's letter, a certificate from a religious order).

If you have an annexe occupied by a relative (such as a granny flat for a parent), the annexe is treated as a separate dwelling but billed at 50 per cent of its normal rate.

If the annexe is occupied by a dependent relative who cannot use it independently, the annexe may be fully exempt (Class W).

An annexe that is not occupied at all may get the 50 per cent annexe discount or a separate empty exemption depending on circumstances.