If, like me, you live alone, then you receive a 25% discount in your council tax bill... Well, I have been away (apologies for little input on this blog whilst away) to celebrate my birthday with family, but I came back to this letter threatening me that I will lose my discount if I don't get in touch within 21 days, so lucky I wasn't away for more time! Apart from very recently telling the Council I live alone on the recent electoral registration form, that doesn't count, oh I could go on about some more confused people than me, or with poor eyesight, who may think they've already done this, or that work is going out to a private body to carry out this research thus taking work away from local people, but I shan't, what I shall do is offer the link to the Council's website where you can make your declaration, if appropriate, and find out more (see below).
"Along with other councils in East Sussex, we are reviewing how many people may be incorrectly claiming a Single Person Discount. The review will help keep Council Tax as low as possible for all Council Tax payers.
Each year local authorities receive a high volume of applications for the 25% Single person's Council Tax discount. There are currently 17,000 people in Hastings claiming Single Person Discount. This reduces the annual Council Tax bill by £476 for a Band D property. Some residents may fail to report a change in circumstances that would change their entitlement to this discount.
With other councils in East Sussex, we have commissioned Datatank to carry out the review.
Datatank Ltd uses a combination of Council data, third party data sources and specialist validation services. This is to:
- confirm the discount for genuine claimants efficiently and accurately.
- remove ineligible or incorrect claims and increase revenue for the Council.
To provide "fairness for all" residents so that those that are paying the correct level of Council Tax are not subsidising their fellow residents who are incorrectly claiming the discount."
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