A piece of Martin Lewis advice on an obscure council tax exemption ended up netting an elderly man a bumper £5,989 payment in his bank account.
In the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Podcast, released via BBC Sounds and Spotify, the money expert revealed that one of his listeners landed the huge payout for his dad from their local council after listening to a piece of Martin’s advice about Severe Mental Impairment Discount.
In the episode, uploaded on December 22, one listener, Mike, wrote in to Martin with a success story based on his advice. He said: “My ears pricked up some months ago when you talked about potential discounts for mental incapacity on council tax bills.
“My elderly father has vascular dementia and thanks to your programme I’ve been able to obtain a 100% discount on his council tax bill, some £2,000+ a year, albeit he already receives a 25% single occupancy discount.
“Additionally the council have refunded some nearly five years of charges, resulting in a refund to his bank account of £5,989.30. Amazing, things are tight with carer costs and increasing tax bills, so this is a lifesaver thanks again.”
Martin explained that this little known exemption can apply to all sorts of conditions, but that it won’t always be backdated, because every single council has its own separate set of rules on backdated payments.
Martin added: “Thanks for getting in touch, that’s quite moving actually. I have long been campaigning on the horribly named severe mental impairment discount for council tax bills.
“What it effectively means is someone who has severe loss of social functioning, now it is common with Alzheimer’s, dementia, people who have had severe strokes, somebody who has severe Parkinson’s and who are eligible for certain benefits, many of the standard disability benefits out there. They can get the SMI discount on council tax. It is hideously underpublicised and I do hear of, council officers who, their frontline staff don’t even know how it works.
“I’ve campaigned on it for a long time, Wales actually improved its system hugely, and we need England and Scotland to follow on the same.
“…what happens is if you get the SMI discount then you are effectively disregarded for council tax purposes.”
Martin added that if you are in a household with two or more people, you pay full council tax. But if there are only two people and one of them has an SMI, it counts like there’s only one person living in the households, so you get the 25% single person discount.
Martin added: “If somebody lives alone and they are disregarded for council tax, then just like an all-student household doesn’t pay council tax, then an all-SMI household doesn’t pay council tax either.”
Martin then added about backdating: “Backdating is council by council, though in Wales they have standardised rules.
“So whether you would get a backdated payout or not depends on your individual council’s policy.”
