Do the £200 council tax payments to people over 65 affect council tax benefit?

I've had a bit of a trwal on this issue, and can't find anything specific. I saw a lady yesterday who had a small entitlement to ctb, however she is reluctant to claim as she told me she had read that you can't receive both ctb and the lump sum council tax payment?

People who are over 65 and getting guarentee PC are not entitled to the £200 payment, unless they are over 70 then they get £50. This raises two issues:

1. The fact that people on guarentee PC don't qualify suggests that there is a policy intention to avoid duplication, but what about people who get ctb but not guarentee PC, either becuase they don't qualify for it or they do but aren't claiming it?

2. Why do people over 70 get £50 if they are getting guarentee PC and presumably full ctb? Disbility Rights handbook (pg. 54) says "It is designed to help with additional living expenses, including council tax"?

I'm confused as to the logic behind the payments and how they fit in with ctb, and would be grateful for any clarification. Particularly given that I can foresee getting more queries on this nearer the time the payments are issued.

The following link to the rightsnet news story highlighting the HTB/CTB guidance issued in relation to the Budget 2005 announcement of the £200 council tax 'refund' to households with someone aged 65 or over may shed some light on some of the issues you raise -

£200 council tax \'refund\' to pensioner households: New HB guidance (04 April, 2005)

Thanks Ken. I had read this bulliten, but it doesn't directly address the points in question. It does say that the one off payment is not dependent on the amount of council tax payable, which infers there is no interplay with ctb. Certainly the absence of any new legislation outlining how such an interplay would work, would infer the same. However I was hoping to find something more concrete, particularly given what my client told me she had read (unfortunately she couldn't tell me WHERE she had read it). Me saying that I thought she should be able to get both because I wasn't aware of anything to the contrary, wasn't very pursuasive!

It is explained in detail in bulletin U5 to be found at the address below.

Jeff


http://www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit/news/newsletter/bulletins/2005/index_2005.asp

Sorry that should have read "U3" not U5

It is bulletin U3 that I have read, but it doesn't address the points I have mentioned.

The difficulty is that you will probably not find anything that simply states that people can receive both CTB and this one off payment.

The reason is that your client will be entitled to CTB because she meets the criteria set out in the CTB (General) Regulations and there is nothing within these regulations that removes entitlement to CTB where this one off payment is received.

Unfortunately, this is often the way with benefit legislation.

There is no interaction with these payments and CTB, except in so far as people on Guarantee Credit will not get the payments because they get full CTB. Everyone else on CTB will get the full payment, even if their CTB is a penny less than their full CT liability.

That's basically it really.

Actually, forget about the one penny less bit. They would get the payment even if they got full CTB - just so long as they were not getting Guarantee Credit.

I agree that the various bulletins are not very helpful however the rules for pensioners are different to non-pensioners.

In the case of non pensioners income is not defined therefore all income is taken into account unless it falls to be disregarded within the regs or schedules.

When DWP issued the new regs for pensioners they did define income. If the lump sum payments are not included in the definition of income - which they are not - then they cannot be taken into account as income in the CTB or HB calculation.

Hope this helps