Best Help for Proving 35 Hours of Care for a Council Tax Discount

The most useful tool for proving 35 hours of weekly care for the council tax carer disregard is a structured care log that breaks your week into daily care activities with time estimates — because the 35-hour threshold is the single most common point where applications stall, and most councils provide no template for recording it.

If you are looking for a care hours app, a template, or professional help with this specific part of the carer disregard application, here is what exists, what each option covers, and which one actually solves the problem.

The core challenge is this: you know you provide 35 hours of care a week. You do it every day. But when the council asks you to demonstrate those hours, you realise that care does not come in neat blocks — it is medication at 7am, supervision through the morning, a GP appointment at 11, meal preparation at noon, personal care intermittently, and overnight checks or assistance. Putting a number on each activity, across seven days, in a format that a council revenues officer will accept without querying, is harder than it sounds.

What the Council Actually Needs

The statutory requirement is clear: to qualify for the council tax carer disregard as an unpaid carer, you must provide an average of at least 35 hours of care per week to someone who receives a qualifying disability benefit. The legislation does not specify how you prove it. In practice, councils accept one or more of these:

• A self-declaration on the application form (many councils have a simple tick-box or free-text field asking whether you provide 35+ hours)
• A weekly care log showing daily activities and time estimates
• A letter from a GP, social worker or district nurse confirming the care arrangement
• Carer's Allowance records (if you receive it — but Carer's Allowance is not required for the council tax disregard)

The level of scrutiny varies by council. Some accept a simple declaration. Others ask for a detailed breakdown, particularly if the claim involves backdating or the council has previously refused. A structured care log provides the strongest evidence because it shows the revenues officer exactly how the hours add up — and it protects you if the council challenges the claim later.

The Options Compared

Why a Generic Care Log Is Not Enough

Care log templates available on Etsy, Pinterest and printable stationery sites are designed for medical care coordination — tracking medications, appointments, symptoms and daily routines. They are useful for managing care, but they are not built to satisfy a council revenues officer who needs to see that the total care activity exceeds 35 hours per week.

The gap is structural. A medical care log tracks what happened. The council tax evidence needs to show how long it took, with examples of care activities such as personal care (washing, dressing, feeding), physical help (mobility, transfers), supervision (keeping the person safe, managing confusion or wandering), household tasks directly related to the person's disability (cooking meals they cannot prepare, cleaning they cannot do), and help with appointments or medication management.

A care log built specifically for the council tax carer disregard pre-categorises these activities and runs a weekly total, so the 35-hour threshold is visible at a glance.

Why Care Apps Don't Quite Fit

Apps like Jointly (by Carers UK), CareZone and similar platforms help carers coordinate tasks, share updates with family members and track medications. They are excellent for managing care across a team.

They are not designed to produce a weekly hours summary formatted for a council tax application. Most care apps log tasks as events (completed or not completed), not as time blocks. They do not categorise activities against the council tax care-hour definitions. And exporting a summary that a council revenues officer can interpret — rather than a feed of timestamped task completions — requires manual work that defeats the purpose of using an app.

If you already use a care app, it can serve as supporting evidence alongside a structured care log. But it does not replace the log.

Who This Is For

• Carers who know they provide an average of at least 35 hours of care per week but are struggling to document it in a way the council will accept
• Anyone whose council has asked for evidence of the 35-hour threshold and provided no template or guidance on what to submit
• Carers whose initial application was questioned or returned because the care hours were not sufficiently documented
• Family members helping an elderly or disabled person apply for the carer disregard, who need a structured format to fill in on the carer's behalf
• Live-in carers whose daily routine blends care with ordinary household life, making it difficult to separate and quantify the care hours

Who This Is NOT For

• Carers whose average is below 35 hours of care per week — the carer disregard does not apply, though other council tax discounts may (single person discount, disabled band reduction, SMI disregard for the care recipient)
• Low-paid care workers claiming through the employed carer route, where the threshold is 24 hours per week and the evidence is employer verification rather than a personal care log
• People whose council has accepted a simple self-declaration and is not asking for a detailed breakdown — if the council is satisfied with a tick-box, you do not need a care log

How to Build a Care Log That Works

Whether you use a template from the guide or create your own, the care log needs four things:

1. Daily time blocks by activity category. Break each day into the main care activities: personal care, physical help, supervision, meal preparation, household tasks related to the disability, medical and benefits administration, and transport to appointments. Estimate the time for each in hours and minutes.

2. A weekly total that exceeds 35 hours. The revenues officer is looking for this number. If your total is close to 35 — say, 36 to 38 hours — document the activities in enough detail that the estimate is credible. If you regularly provide 50+ hours, the level of detail matters less because the margin is large.

3. A note on overnight care. If you make checks, respond to falls, or manage confusion or wandering, record each task and the time spent. Do not automatically add an entire night solely because you are on call; ask your council how it treats passive on-call time.

4. Consistency with the care recipient's condition. The care log should make sense given the person's disability. If they receive PIP enhanced daily living for severe needs, a 50-hour care week is plausible. If they receive standard-rate PIP daily living, a very high hours claim may attract scrutiny — document the activities clearly.

The Carer Disregard Guide's weekly care activity log is a printable, structured worksheet designed specifically for this purpose. It covers common care activities, runs daily and weekly totals, includes a section for overnight care, and produces a document you can attach to the council tax application or keep on file if the council asks for evidence later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the council check my care hours or just take my word for it?

It depends on the council. Some accept a self-declaration on the application form. Others ask for a supporting statement or evidence. Backdated claims and appeals are more likely to require documented evidence. Having a care log ready means you can satisfy any level of scrutiny, whether the council asks upfront or queries the claim later.

Do overnight hours count toward the 35-hour threshold?

Record overnight tasks and the time spent, such as checks, responding to falls, or managing confusion or wandering. Ask the council whether it will count periods when you were present but not providing active care; do not add a whole night to your total solely because you were on call.

What if my care hours vary from week to week?

The threshold is an average. If some weeks you provide 40 hours and others 30 due to varying needs, hospital admissions or respite, the council looks at the typical pattern. Document a representative week rather than an exceptional one, and note in a covering statement that hours fluctuate but average above 35.

Can a GP letter replace a care log?

A GP letter is not required for an unpaid family carer claim. It may support an account of the care arrangement, but the council may still ask you to state your own care hours; ask the council what it will accept if you want to use a doctor's letter instead of a log.

What if the council says my care hours don't count?

If the council disputes the care hours, they must issue a written decision. You can challenge this through a formal section 16 written grievance under the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for England within two months of the council's final decision notice or, if the council does not reply, within two months after the council's two-month response period expires. The Carer Disregard Guide includes the appeal framework and statutory references.

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