There are two benefits available that can help with the payment of your Council Tax bill. These benefits are Second Adult Rebate and Council Tax Benefit.

They are separate to discounts and exemptions that are administered by the Council Tax department.

You can apply for both Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate. The benefit form that you complete will provide the information we need to determine which benefit will make you better off.

Second Adult Rebate is worked out by looking at the gross income and savings of any other adults that live with you (other than your partner).

If you have a partner who is not counted for Council Tax purposes (see the Council Tax web pages under How to pay less: Discounts - Exemptions - Reduction for Disabled Facilities), you may qualify if there is another person living with you that has a low income.

• Information on Council Tax exemptions
• Information about Discounts Available

The person(s) that share your home must be aged 18 or over, not paying you rent, not paying Council Tax themselves and be in receipt of a low income.

If the person is jointly liable for Council Tax with you, they will need to make a claim for Council Tax Benefit in their own right.

If you claim for Second Adult Rebate only, you do not have to tell us about your income and savings.

You can receive Second Adult Rebate up to 25% of your Council Tax charge; the minimum amount of Second Adult Rebate you can receive is 7.5% of your Council Tax charge.

You can use our Benefit Calculator to gain an idea of whether you may qualify for benefit.

If you would like to discuss a decision that the Benefit calculator provides please contact us.

Second Adult Rebate will usually be paid from the Monday after your claim is received at our offices.
If you would like to claim backdated benefit you will need to apply in writing, advising the date that you would like benefit to be backdated to, the reasons why you have not applied before and provide proof of your income, savings, your household's income and savings for that period.

Pensioners can only be considered for an automatic backdate of second adult rebate for up to three months prior to the date that we received their claim in our offices.

There is an exception to this though - if you are the liable person for Council Tax and are a man aged 60 - 64 years old and request backdating, providing you are not claiming Pension Credit or have a partner who is receiving Income Support or Jobseekers Allowance (Income Based) you can be considered for backdated benefit for up to six months prior to the date that we received your claim form in our offices. However, you must prove that "good cause"* existed throughout the period that you have asked for backdating.

People of working age can only be considered for backdating for up to six months prior to the date that we receive their claim form in our offices. Again they must provide proof of good cause for this request to be considered.

* "Good Cause" means a reason which stopped you, as the person liable for Council Tax, from claiming second adult rebate from an earlier date. There could be one or more reasons why you were unable to claim. Here are some examples of common causes for claiming late:

• You have been seriously ill or in hospital
• You have been out of the country for a long time and did not know you could claim
• You have problems with English and no one to help you claim

If you would like more information about backdated benefit please contact us.

Please see Council Tax Benefit. You can find out more information about Second Adult Rebate by contacting our offices, visiting other web sites and organisations. See contact us, useful contacts and leaflets and forms.