Somerset Council Tax Hardship Fund: How to Apply for Exceptional Hardship Relief

Somerset Council's cuts to its working-age Council Tax Reduction scheme in April 2025 hit hard. Maximum discounts for Bands 2, 3, and 4 were slashed from 75%, 40%, and 25% down to 50%, 25%, and 10%. The council's own data shows the fallout: successful Exceptional Hardship Scheme awards surged by 136%, with the average award rising 27.5% to £562.78.

If your CTR discount isn't enough and you're struggling with your council tax bill, the Exceptional Hardship Scheme is the safety net you should know about.

What the Exceptional Hardship Scheme Is

The EHS is a discretionary fund operated by Somerset Council under Section 13A(1)(a) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. It provides additional council tax reductions — credited directly to your council tax account — on top of whatever CTR you already receive. It is administered alongside, but is separate from, the council's broader Crisis and Resilience Fund, which has a 2026/27 budget of £8,327,956.

An EHS award doesn't give you cash. It reduces the amount of council tax you owe, lowering your remaining instalments.

Who Can Apply

There's no rigid eligibility formula. The council assesses each case individually based on financial hardship, but in practice you'll need to show:

• A genuine shortfall between your income and essential outgoings
• That you've taken reasonable steps to manage your finances — the council won't fund a budget that includes non-essential spending they consider avoidable
• That your council tax bill is causing or will cause serious financial difficulty

You don't need to be receiving CTR already, though most successful applicants are people whose CTR award still leaves them with a bill they can't cover.

How to Apply

1. Complete the online application through Somerset Council's discretionary awards portal
2. Provide two full, unredacted consecutive monthly bank statements for every financial account you and your partner hold — savings accounts, current accounts, all of them
3. Detail your income and expenditure — the council wants to see your full household budget
4. Explain your circumstances — what's causing the hardship and why the standard CTR award isn't sufficient

The bank statement requirement trips people up. "Full and unredacted" means no blacked-out transactions, no cropped pages, no screenshots of your banking app. The council wants complete PDFs or clear photographs of printed statements covering two consecutive months.

What the EHS Won't Cover

The scheme has hard exclusions. An EHS award cannot be used for:

• Council tax arrears from before the previous financial year — if you owe money from 2024/25 or earlier, the EHS won't clear it
• Court costs, summons fees, or enforcement agency charges — EHS cannot cover these costs
• Shortfalls caused by DWP benefit sanctions — if your Universal Credit has been sanctioned and that's why you can't pay, the EHS won't step in for the sanction period
• Water, sewerage, or other non-qualifying service charges

The Crisis and Resilience Fund

Somerset Council also operates the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF), which is separate from the EHS. The CRF covers emergency costs like rent shortfalls or urgent moving expenses, delivered as cash payments through local crisis alliance networks. If your hardship goes beyond council tax — if you're also behind on rent or facing homelessness — ask about CRF housing payments at the same time.

What Happens After You Apply

The council reviews your application, bank statements, and budget evidence. If approved, the award is credited directly to your council tax account, and you'll receive a revised bill showing lower remaining instalments. There's no standard processing time published, but you should continue paying whatever you can while waiting — falling further behind invites enforcement action that the EHS explicitly cannot reverse.

If you're refused, follow the review or complaint route set out in the EHS decision notice.

Our Somerset Council Tax Reduction guide walks through both the CTR application and the EHS application, with a household income-and-expenditure worksheet designed to present your budget in the format the council expects.

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