Birmingham Council Tax Second Adult Rebate: Who Qualifies and How to Claim

What the Second Adult Rebate Is

The second adult rebate is an alternative to standard Council Tax Support. It's designed for a specific situation: you're a single person (or treated as single) liable for council tax, your own income is too high (or your savings too large) to qualify for CTS on the means test, but you share your home with another adult who is on a low income or receiving certain benefits.

Instead of assessing your income, the rebate looks at the second adult's income. If they're on Income Support, income-based JSA, income-related ESA, or the guarantee credit of Pension Credit, you could get a 25% reduction on your council tax. If they're on a low income but not on one of those benefits, the rebate is 15% or 7.5%, depending on their earnings.

The rebate recognises that sharing with a low-income adult costs you the 25% single person discount you'd otherwise get if you lived alone.

Who It's For

The second adult rebate works best for homeowners or tenants who:

• Earn enough that they wouldn't qualify for standard CTS
• Live with an adult child, parent, sibling, or other adult who has very little income
• Lost their single person discount when that second adult moved in

The second adult must not be your partner (couples are assessed jointly for CTS — the second adult rebate doesn't apply). They must be someone who lives with you but isn't jointly liable for the council tax.

How It Compares to CTS

You can't get both the second adult rebate and Council Tax Support — the council calculates both and gives you whichever is higher. For most low-income households, standard CTS will be the better option because it can reduce your bill by up to 80% (or 100% if you're in a protected category).

The second adult rebate only becomes more valuable when the liable person's income is above the CTS threshold but the second adult is on very low income. In that narrow scenario, 25% off the bill is better than the zero CTS you'd otherwise get.

If you are not entitled to Council Tax Support in your own right, claim a second adult rebate through the council's Benefits Online "Make a New Benefit Claim" form. Birmingham compares it with main CTS and awards the higher reduction.

How to Claim

Apply through the same Council Tax Support application process — the Citizen Access Portal at birmingham.gov.uk/CTS. When providing household information, include the second adult's income details and benefit status. The council needs evidence of the second adult's income or benefits (a benefit letter, wage slips, or a UC award notice).

If you've been paying full council tax when you could have had the rebate, it can be backdated. Pension-age claimants get automatic three-month backdating. Working-age claimants can get one month with good cause shown.

For more on how the second adult rebate fits alongside CTS, the single person discount, and other reductions, the Birmingham Council Tax Reduction guide maps out each scenario with the relevant calculation.

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