Brent Council Tax Reduction Income Bands and Limits Explained

Brent's five income bands for 2026/27

Since April 2025, Brent has used a simplified income-banded system for working-age Council Tax Reduction instead of the old means test. Your weekly household income determines which band you fall into, and each band gives a fixed percentage discount on your net council tax:

The percentages are applied to your net council tax liability — that's your annual bill minus any statutory discounts (like the 25% Single Person Discount), divided into weekly amounts.

How Brent calculates your income

For employees, countable income is your gross earnings minus income tax, National Insurance, and half of any pension contributions. If you're on Universal Credit, the council uses the earned-income figure the DWP provides through Real Time Information — you don't need to submit payslips separately.

Several types of income are completely disregarded:

• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

This means a household where one person receives PIP but has no other countable income still falls into Band 1 and gets the full 65% reduction. The disability payment simply doesn't feature in the calculation.

Partner income is always combined

If you live with a spouse, civil partner, or cohabiting partner, Brent adds both your incomes together to determine the household band. There's no option to claim individually.

Example: You earn £70 a week net and your partner earns £60. Combined weekly income: £130. That puts you in Band 3 (30% reduction), not Band 1. If you lived alone on £70, you'd be in Band 1 instead.

Worked calculation: Band 2 household

Take a single person in a Band D property (£2,000 annual council tax). With the 25% Single Person Discount, the net annual liability is £1,500 — or £28.85 a week. If their weekly net earnings are £95, they fall into Band 2 and receive a 50% reduction:

• Weekly CTR: £28.85 × 50% = £14.43
• Weekly bill after CTR: £28.85 − £14.43 = £14.42
• Annual bill after CTR: roughly £750

Without the reduction, they'd pay the full £1,500.

The £6,000 capital cutoff

Income bands only matter if your savings are under £6,000. Brent enforces a hard capital limit for working-age claimants — if you and your partner hold £6,000 or more in combined bank accounts, savings, and investments, your entitlement drops to zero regardless of weekly income. Your home and personal injury compensation held in trust are excluded from the count.

Unlike the pensioner scheme (which uses a £16,000 limit with a taper), the working-age cutoff is all-or-nothing at £6,000.

Checking your own band placement

If you've already received a Decision Notice, it will state your assigned income band. If the calculation looks wrong — maybe the council has included income that should be disregarded, or hasn't applied a discount — you can challenge it through a written grievance. The council has two months to respond before you can escalate to the Valuation Tribunal.

The Brent Council Tax Reduction guide includes an income band calculator worksheet that walks through the exact arithmetic for your household type, plus worked examples for couples, single parents, and households with non-dependants.

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