Greenwich Council Tax Reduction for Disability, PIP, DLA and Carers

Disability Benefits Are Not Counted as Income

If you receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA), or Attendance Allowance, Greenwich completely disregards these when calculating your Council Tax Reduction. They do not appear in your assessable income at all.

This matters because the LCTS calculation compares your income against your applicable amount. With disability benefits excluded, your assessable income is lower, which means the 25% earnings taper takes less off your award. In many cases, a disabled resident on low earnings plus PIP will qualify for the full 80% maximum support.

Non-Dependant Deduction Exemptions

Normally, Greenwich deducts a flat £10 per week from your LCTS award for each non-dependant adult living in your home — an adult child, a sibling, anyone who is not your partner. But this deduction is waived completely if you or your partner receives:

• PIP daily living component
• DLA care component
• Attendance Allowance

So if you have an adult child working full time living with you, and you receive PIP daily living, the £10 weekly deduction does not apply. That is £520 a year that stays in your award.

This exemption also applies if the non-dependant is a full-time student — no deduction regardless of the claimant's benefit status.

Disability Premiums in Your Applicable Amount

Your applicable amount — the baseline living allowance that determines when the earnings taper starts — includes premiums for disability. If you qualify for the disability premium, your applicable amount is higher, which means your income can be higher before the taper starts reducing your award.

The enhanced disability premium adds even more. These premiums exist because disabled households face higher living costs, and the system is designed to account for that before assessing whether you can afford council tax.

Carers

If you receive Carer's Allowance, it is counted as income in the LCTS calculation (unlike PIP and DLA). However, the carer premium in your applicable amount partially offsets this.

If you care for someone but do not receive Carer's Allowance — perhaps because you are getting another benefit that overlaps — you may still qualify for the carer premium if you meet the caring hours threshold. Check with Greenwich's Welfare Rights Service (020 8921 6375) if you are unsure.

Other Council Tax Discounts for Disability

Beyond LCTS, two separate schemes can reduce your bill:

Severe Mental Impairment (SMI) exemption: If a resident is certified by a doctor as severely mentally impaired and receives a qualifying benefit (PIP daily living, Attendance Allowance, or certain others), they are disregarded for council tax purposes. If that means no countable adults live at the property, the home is fully exempt. If one adult remains, the 25% Single Person Discount applies.

Disabled Band Reduction Scheme: If your property has been adapted for a disabled resident — an extra bathroom, a wheelchair-accessible room, extra space needed because of the disability — you can apply to have your property charged at one band below its actual valuation. A Band D property would be charged as Band C.

These are separate applications from LCTS. You can claim all three where eligible — the disabled band reduction lowers your base bill, the SPD or SMI reduces it further, and LCTS is calculated on the resulting figure.

For help understanding how these interact and a calculation worksheet tailored to disability and carer households, see our Greenwich Council Tax Reduction guide.

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