Luton Borough Council

Council tax exceptional hardship relief scheme

If you experience exceptional circumstances of financial hardship, then you may be able to claim some discretionary assistance with your council tax. This is not a cash payment, but an account balancing payment to help manage a debt.

Our budget for this is limited so the help available will be for a set period and amount.

As a condition of any award you may be signposted to our third party partners who can offer support, advice and guidance to help you manage to pay your share of this local tax on an ongoing basis.

As part of the form, you must provide proof of your income and expenditure. This includes bank statements for all accounts you have including:

current accounts
savings accounts
Post Office accounts
ISAs
any other financial accounts held by the adult(s) in the household

You must also provide other evidence to support your application including proof of the following:

all income
rent arrears (if applicable)
any loans or finance repayments
credit card debts
court fines
maintenance payments
any work related travel costs
any deductions made from any benefits you receive, for example deductions for repayment of a Social Fund loan
debts for utilities such as gas, electric and water

A decision on your claim will be made within one month of receipt of the application, but this may be extended if you are asked to provide further evidence. Then a decision will be made within one calendar month of receiving all the evidence.

The exceptional hardship fund is a discretionary scheme set up by us and funded by council tax payers of the borough. Payment of any award under this scheme is dependent upon sufficient funds being available within our budget.

Any award approved will:

not be backdated
only be provided for a limited time

If you disagree with the decision on your application you can ask for a review of the decision. This will be done within one calendar month of the decision notification letter.

Apply for council tax exceptional hardship

To appeal against a decision

To appeal against a decision that effects your council tax after 1 April 2013, you should write to us asking for a review of the decision. The request must be in writing and give reasons as to why the decision should be reviewed.

We have a duty to respond within two months but if you have not received a reply within four months then you can appeal direct to the Valuation Tribunal at the following address:

Valuation Tribunal
Hepworth House
2 Trafford Court
Doncaster
DN1 1PN
Email: [email protected]

Enquiry form

Complete our enquiry form

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Council tax exceptional hardship fund policy

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