Council Tax Reduction

When you make a new claim, we must see proof of the information that you provide on your application form.

In most cases, we need to see proof of your identity and National Insurance Number, but we may also ask you for proof of income, private pensions and savings.

Proof of identity

Please provide two documents, such as:

• Passport
• Birth certificate
• Driving licence
• A recent utility bill (no more than 3 months old)

National Insurance Number

You can find this on:

• Department of Work and Pensions benefit letters
• Wage slips
• P45 or P60
• National Insurance card
• HMRC letters.

Benefits

We try to confirm your benefit details directly with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). If we cannot confirm the details, we may ask you to provide evidence.

Earnings

If you claim Universal Credit, you do not need you to provide wage slips as we receive this information directly from the DWP.

If you are not claiming UC, please provide:

• 5 consecutive weekly wage slips, or
• 3 fortnightly wage slips, or
• 2 monthly wage slips

If you have just started work, do not delay your claim. You can send your first wage slip or a letter from your employer confirming your expected earnings. If you cannot find your wage slips, contact us and we can send a certificate of earnings to your employer.

Self employed

If you are not claiming Universal Credit, you are self-employed and have been trading for more than 52 weeks, we may apply a Minimum Income Floor (MIF). This means we assume you earn up to the net national Living Wage for 35 hours per week, less tax and National Insurance. If your income is lower, we still use the amount. If you pay into a private pension, we can disregard half of the amount you pay into it.

You will need to provide:

• A summary of income and expenses for the last 13 weeks
• Receipts or invoices for business expenses
• Your most recent year end accounts
• Recent bank statements for your business or personal account (if used for business)

Taxi drivers must complete a separate income and expenditure form, as we need different information for this type of self-employment.

Savings and investments

If your total value savings or investments are more than £6000 (working age) or £10,000 (pension age) you must provide up-to-date evidence, including:

• Two consecutive months of bank statements for each account
• Proof of stocks, shares, unit trusts, national savings or any other savings or investments you have

Pensions or superannuation

Please provide evidence of any private pensions or superannuation income you receive:

• A letter or annual statement from your pension or superannuation provider confirming the amount you receive and how often its paid.
• The last 2 monthly bank statements to show deposits from the pension or superannuation provider.

You must also provide proof of any other income that you receive and the income of anyone else who lives with you, for example, relatives or friends.

How to provide documents

You can provide your documents online or using the self-service stations in our libraries.

Please don’t send valuable items in the post.

Providing the required information straight away helps us process your claim faster.

If you cannot provide information, or you need advice, please contact us on 0151 443 4042.