Apply for a single person Council Tax discount
The full Council Tax bill assumes that there are 2 or more adults (people aged 18 or over) living in a property.
You can get a 25% single person discount if you're the only resident aged 18 or over living in your home and it is your sole or main residence.
You may become a single occupant if someone:
- moves out
- passes away
Sole or main residence
This discount does not apply to second homes.
Someone’s sole or main residence is normally deemed to be:
- the familial home where any partner or children reside
- where the majority of your belongings are
- where you would return to at the end of traveling/work contract
- where you have legal ties
- where you have banking, financial and medical links
This list doesn’t include everything, and we might ask for more details or proof if things aren’t clear.
People temporarily away from home
If someone is living temporarily away from home, this discount will not normally apply.
For example, if they are:
- in hospital
- in a nursing home
- working away
- traveling
- on holiday
- on a gap year
Their main residence must have permanently changed before this discount applies.
The exception is for full time students who are studying and living away from home. This is because they qualify for a specific exemption at the address where they are living.
You must remember to cancel your discount if they return to your address at the end of their course.
Apply for a discount
To claim a single person discount you can complete our online form.
After you've applied
After you've applied, we will assess your claim and contact you regarding the outcome. You must continue to make payments whilst a discount application is pending.
If your circumstances change
We will regularly check if you still qualify for the single person discount and you’ll need to confirm that you’re still eligible.
If you already receive the single person discount and someone else over 18 comes to live with you, you must tell us straightaway.
You can do this by cancelling your single person discount.
If you previously hosted someone under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme and your “thank you” payments have ended due to your guest’s visa changing, you will no longer be entitled to a single person discount from the date those payments stop, if your guest continues to live with you as a tenant or lodger. Other disregards may apply and further information is available on the Council Tax discounts, exemptions and disregards webpage.
National Fraud Initiative
We take part in the Cabinet Office’s National Fraud Initiative (NFI), a data matching exercise aimed at preventing and detecting fraud. We are required to submit specified data sets to the Minister for the Cabinet Office for each exercise. During the NFI process, Council Tax discount claims, such as single occupier discounts, are cross-checked against databases provided to the NFI.