Cornwall Council Tax Reduction Capital and Savings Limit

The £6,000 Hard Cutoff

Cornwall Council's working-age Council Tax Support scheme draws a line at £6,000 in total capital. If your combined household savings, investments, and non-primary property equity hit £6,001 on any day, your entitlement drops to zero. Not reduced — zero.

This is different from Housing Benefit and pension-age Council Tax Reduction, which use a tariff income system between £6,000 and £16,000 (pension-age CTR goes up to £16,000 with a sliding scale). Cornwall's working-age scheme has no sliding scale. It's a cliff edge.

If you're part of a couple (married, civil partnership, or cohabiting), both partners' capital is combined. One partner holding £4,000 and the other holding £2,500 puts the household at £6,500 — over the threshold, and therefore ineligible.

What Counts as Capital

The council includes bank accounts of all types (current, savings, joint), building society accounts, cash, ISAs, National Savings certificates, premium bonds, shares and other investments, and the equity value of any land or property you own that isn't your home.

You must provide two consecutive months of complete statements for every account in the household — current, savings, ISAs, everything. The council is looking at the actual balance on the day of assessment, not an average.

What Doesn't Count

Personal and occupational pension funds are excluded. So are life insurance policies, compensation payments held in trust, and approved business assets if you're genuinely self-employed and trading. Your main home's value is also ignored.

If You're Close to the Limit

A lump sum — a tax rebate, a redundancy payment, a small inheritance — can push you over the £6,000 threshold temporarily. If you spend it on essentials (rent arrears, a car repair, replacement appliances) and your capital drops back to £6,000 or less, you can reapply. But Cornwall doesn't backdate working-age claims, so you'd lose support for the period you were over the limit.

Deliberately giving away or hiding capital to stay at or below the threshold (known as deprivation of capital) is assessed by the council, and they can treat you as still holding that money.

The Cornwall Council Tax Reduction guide explains the capital rules in full and shows how the council assesses savings alongside income in the means test.

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