There seems to be an issue with people who are Severely Mentally Impaired and previously lived in supported accommodation with 24hour care,who now live independently and have Community Service Volunteers living with them. Whereas before, they were exempt from Council Tax, they now only qualify for a 25% discount and the carer also gets a 25% discount.
There have been ongoing discussions with various housing providers and support services in the area I work,, as it seems rather unfair to expect CSVs to have to pay Council Tax.
As a consequence, some of these support services providers who use CSVs are having to consider paying the Council Tax for their CSVs, after all they are getting labour on the cheap, so to speak.
Has anyone else come across this issue?

I am advised by a really nice Lady who knows, that as the regulations stand, a person who is SMI cannot be jointly liable for council tax. Therefore if they are a joint owner or tenant they will not be liable to pay. However they can still be solely liable for council tax.

The problems arise where the SMI person is the sole liable party and have a carer living with them. Under the hierarchy of liability residents must have the same legal interest in a property to be jointly liable. Evidently the person who is SMI is usually the sole owner / tenant and the carer will only the have the rights of a lodger. Therefore the carer cannot be held liable (and if councils are doing this my understanding is that it is incorrect) and will be disregarded. As is the SMI person is also disregarded 50% is payable.

However, a little depends on a couple of factors -

1. whose name is the tenancy in? ie, who is the liable person.

2. Does the Carer have a main residence elsewhere - if so, then their presence does not incur a CT liablity: the SMI should be the sole tenant/occupier and therefore 100% exempt.

I asked about main residence because You used the word "carers" - does this indicate more than one over a period of 24 hours? or a live in carer?

There are also issues surrounding recovery and how individual councils deal with recovering debts from SMI people is a matter of individual discretion. I think we would think very seriously about pursuing such recoveries.

Hi Thanks for that

In answer to your questions. The tenancy was signed by the appointee of the person who is SMI. There carer lives in and does not have a main residence elsewhere. The carer lived with parents but left home to take up CSV post.

In that case we revert to the 50% scenario - however, wouldn't your clients benefit income entitle him to CTB ?

Yes you are absolutely right!. In retrospect, I think these discussions have centred around the issue of who pays the bill until the Confirmation of Council Tax Status for Carers is returned to obtain the relevant discount. I think these organisations feel responsible for their servioe users who were always exempt from the tax and are now billed, and are not realising how important it is to inform their Managers to send in the relevant Council Tax Status form as soon as possible. Anyway, thank you for your help.