Leicester Council Tax Discounts: Single Person, Student, and SMI Exemptions

Statutory Discounts vs Council Tax Reduction

Leicester residents often confuse statutory council tax discounts with Council Tax Reduction. They are different things applied in a fixed order. Statutory discounts (single person, student exemption, SMI disregard) are applied first, reducing your baseline bill. Council Tax Reduction is then calculated against whatever remains after those discounts.

This means you can stack them. A single person on a low income could receive the 25% single person discount and an 80% Council Tax Reduction — applied sequentially to produce a very small bill.

The 25% Single Person Discount

If you are the only adult counted for council tax purposes in your home, you get 25% off your bill. This is a national statutory right, not specific to Leicester, but you need to tell the council you qualify.

"Only adult" does not mean you live alone. Certain people are invisible to council tax — they are "disregarded" when counting residents. If everyone else in your home falls into a disregarded category, you qualify as a single occupier even with other people present.

Disregarded people include:

• Full-time students (on a course of at least 21 hours per week for a full academic year)
• People with severe mental impairment (see below)
• Carers who live with the person they care for, provide at least 35 hours of care per week, and are not that person's spouse, partner, or parent of a child under 18; the person receiving care must also get a qualifying disability benefit
• People in detention or prison
• 18- and 19-year-olds still in qualifying education
• Live-in carers who are not the cared-for person's spouse, partner, or parent of a child under 18

If two adults live in the property and one is disregarded, the other gets the 25% discount. If all adults are disregarded (for example, an entire household of full-time students), the property may be fully exempt.

Full Student Exemption

A property occupied entirely by full-time students is exempt from council tax altogether — a 100% discount, not just the 25% single person rate. This applies to student houses and shared flats in Leicester where every resident is a qualifying full-time student.

Each student needs a student status certificate from their university or college. Leicester has a large student population across the University of Leicester and De Montfort University, so the council processes these regularly.

If one non-student adult lives in an otherwise all-student household, the property loses the full exemption but the non-student may qualify for the 25% single person discount (since students are disregarded).

Severe Mental Impairment (SMI) Disregard

A person certified as having a severe mental impairment is disregarded for council tax purposes. If they are the only non-disregarded adult, the property qualifies for the 25% single person discount. If everyone in the household is disregarded (including through SMI), the property may be exempt under Class U.

To qualify for the SMI disregard, you need two things:

1. A medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner confirming severe mental impairment — a severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning that appears to be permanent
2. Entitlement to a qualifying benefit (Attendance Allowance, DLA middle or higher rate care component, PIP standard or enhanced daily living component, ESA support component, Incapacity Benefit, or Universal Credit with LCWRA)

The certificate does not need to come from a specialist. A GP can provide it. The disregard is backdated to the date the conditions were first met, not the date of application — so if the impairment and qualifying benefit were both in place months ago, the council should adjust your bill retrospectively.

Dementia is the most common qualifying condition, but any condition causing severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning counts.

Second Adult Rebate

Second Adult Rebate has been abolished for working-age claimants in Leicester. This was a scheme where a householder could receive a reduction based on the low income of another adult sharing the property (rather than their own income). It no longer applies under Leicester's current local scheme.

Pension-age claimants may still be eligible for Second Adult Rebate under the nationally prescribed rules.

How These Discounts Interact With Council Tax Reduction

The council applies discounts in a strict order:

1. Property exemptions (student household, SMI-only household)
2. Disabled band reduction (drops the property one band)
3. Personal discounts (25% single person, carer disregard)
4. Council Tax Reduction (your percentage discount from the income-banded scheme)

Your CTR percentage is calculated against the charge remaining after steps 1–3. So a single person in Band A paying £1,685.83/year gets the 25% discount first (reducing it to £1,264.37), then the CTR percentage applies to that lower figure.

If you are already receiving Council Tax Reduction but have not claimed a statutory discount you are entitled to, contact the council. Adding a discount changes your base liability, which changes your CTR calculation, and your revised bill could be noticeably lower.

The Leicester Council Tax Reduction guide explains the full discount hierarchy and how to claim each one alongside your main CTR application.

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