Council Tax Discounts

Single Person Discount

Apply now for single person discount (.pdf, 162KB)

The normal Council Tax charge for a property is made on the basis that there are at least two adults (people aged 18 or over) living in the property.

Where there is only one adult we give a 'single person discount' of 25%. You can apply for single person discount (.pdf, 162KB) now using our on-line form.

We also ignore or 'disregard' certain people when we count how many adult live in the property. This means you can sometimes get a discount even if there are two or more adults.

Long Term Empty Properties

From 1 April 2004 council's can decide to reduce the discount to less than 50%, or give no discount at all, for unfurnished properties that no one has lived in for six months or more. Wigan council has decided this year that the discount for long term empty properties will stay at 50% but we could reduce this in future years.

Second Homes

From 1 April 2004 council's can decide to reduce the discount on furnished second homes to as little as 10%. Wigan Council has decided to reduce the discount to 10% from the 1 April 2006.

People that are not counted (disregarded) for Council Tax

Certain people can be 'disregarded' for Council Tax purposes. This means we do not count them when we are working out how many adults live in the property. If the number of adults counted is one, a discount of 25% is allowed. If no adults count, a discount of 50% is allowed.

The following list shows the people that can be disregarded, you can click on the underlined text for more detailed information.

• Full time students and student nurses (.pdf, 170KB)
• Apprentices and Youth Training Trainees (.pdf, 165KB)
• People for whom Child benefit is payable and School leavers under 20 (.pdf, 14KB)
• Prisoners and other people held in detention (.pdf, 9KB)
• People with severe mental impairment (.pdf, 11KB)
• Patients living in a hospital or in a nursing home (.pdf, 12KB)
• People providing or receiving care elsewhere (.pdf, 12KB)
• Certain care workers and people providing care in the home (.pdf, 7KB)
• Members of recognised religious communities (.pdf, 161KB)
• Foreign diplomats

Examples

The following examples show how 'discount disregards' works.

• Two adults living in a property:
  One adult qualifies as a student. Number of people counted = 1 Discount allowed is 25%.
• Three adults living in a property:
  One adult is severely mentally impaired the other two adults qualify as carers.
  Number of people counted = 0 Discount allowed is 50%.
• Three adults living in a property: One adult is a recent school leaver
  Number of people counted = 2 No discount allowed.

Contact Details