Greenwich Council Tax Reduction Change of Circumstances: What to Report and When
The 21-Day Reporting Rule
If you are receiving Council Tax Reduction in Greenwich, you are legally required to report any change in your circumstances within 21 days of the change (and no later than one calendar month). This is not optional — late reporting can trigger overpayment recovery, where Greenwich adds the excess back onto your bill.
Telling the DWP about a change for your Universal Credit claim does not count. Greenwich Council operates its own system, and you need to notify the revenues and benefits department directly.
What You Must Report
Income changes: Any shift in earned income, state benefits, private pensions, or capital that takes your savings above £6,000. This includes a pay rise, a new job, reduced hours, starting or stopping a benefit, and beginning or ending self-employment.
Household changes: Someone moving in or out of your property, including partners, adult children, and other non-dependants. Each non-dependant affects your award through the £10 per week flat deduction.
Family changes: Births, deaths, and children leaving full-time education.
Absences: Any temporary absence from your home expected to exceed four weeks.
Moving house: Whether you are moving within Greenwich or leaving the borough entirely. If you move within Greenwich, you may be able to transfer your claim to the new address. If you leave, your Greenwich LCTS stops and you will need to apply to your new council.
How to Report
Contact Greenwich Council's revenues and benefits team. You can email [email protected] or call 020 8921 4900. Include your council tax reference number and the date the change took effect.
If the change involves someone moving in or out, have their details ready — name, date of birth, and income or benefit information — because this affects the non-dependant deduction calculation.
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What Happens When You Report
Greenwich recalculates your LCTS award based on the new information. You will receive a revised decision notice and an updated council tax demand bill showing the adjusted remaining instalments.
If the change increases your entitlement (for example, a drop in income), the extra support gets credited to your account. If it decreases your entitlement (a pay rise, someone moving in), your remaining payments go up.
For UC claimants with fluctuating earnings, these recalculations can happen monthly as the DWP feeds updated assessment period data to the council. Each recalculation produces a new demand notice with different monthly payments.
Late Reporting and Overpayments
If you report a change late, Greenwich may calculate that you received more LCTS than you were entitled to. This "excess reduction" gets added back onto your council tax bill as an overpayment. The council issues a revised demand notice increasing your remaining monthly instalments.
If you believe the overpayment calculation is wrong, you have the right to request a formal review within one month of being notified.
The safest approach is to report changes as soon as they happen. Our Greenwich Council Tax Reduction guide includes a change-of-circumstances log to help you track what you have reported, when, and to whom.
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