Nottingham Council Tax Support Savings Limit: The £6,000 Capital Rule

£6,000 Is a Hard Ceiling, Not a Taper

Nottingham City Council's working-age Council Tax Support scheme sets the capital limit at £6,000. This is not a taper where your award gradually reduces as savings increase. It is a cutoff: capital of £6,000 or less does not breach the limit; capital above £6,000 makes you ineligible on capital grounds.

This is considerably stricter than many residents expect. Housing Benefit — which many people claim alongside council tax support — uses a £16,000 capital limit nationally. The pension-age council tax support scheme also uses £16,000, and residents on Guarantee Pension Credit face no capital test at all. Nottingham's working-age scheme operates at barely a third of those thresholds.

What Counts as Capital

The council assesses capital held by both you and your partner. This includes:

• Bank accounts — every current account, savings account, and building society account
• Cash ISAs and stocks & shares ISAs
• Premium bonds
• Shares, unit trusts, and investment funds
• Property you own other than your home (valued at market price minus mortgage)
• Lump-sum payments you have received and not yet spent

Your main home is excluded. Personal possessions (furniture, vehicles, clothing) are excluded. If you have an insurance policy or another item whose treatment is unclear, include the details and ask the council how to report it.

Declare joint accounts and provide the council with any information it requests about ownership of the balance. If you and your partner each hold separate savings accounts, include both.

Capital Evidence

The council asks for complete statements for relevant bank, building society, and ISA accounts covering the last two months. These are mandatory if your total capital is near or below the £6,000 limit. If a recent lump sum or transfer affects your balance, include the relevant evidence and ask the council how to report it.

If You Are Close to the Limit

The council uses the statements to verify the capital figure you declare.

If your savings are near £6,000 — say between £5,500 and £6,000 — check the full capital calculation before applying. If your capital is above £6,000, you are over the working-age scheme's capital limit.

For residents of pension age, the separate £16,000 limit applies automatically through the national scheme rules — no local restriction.

The Nottingham Council Tax Reduction guide includes worked examples showing how the capital limit interacts with the means test, the Band B cap, and the £5 minimum award threshold.

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