Unpaid Carers Urged to Check Council Tax Discount Eligibility After Website Errors
A consumer campaign identified 69 councils in England and Wales that had published incorrect or incomplete information about a council tax discount for live-in unpaid carers. The errors stemmed from failure to update websites after 2013 changes that expanded qualifying disability benefits. Councils have since corrected their online guidance following government correspondence.
bbc.co.ukA consumer investigation found that around one in five council websites in England and Wales displayed incorrect eligibility information for the live-in Carer Council Tax discount. Researchers reviewed more than 200 council websites and identified 69 that had published incomplete or inaccurate details about qualifying benefits.
A further 80 councils had no easily accessible guidance at all. The inaccuracies largely involved outdated references to benefit rules changed in 2013. Before that year, only higher-rate Attendance Allowance, the care component of Disability Living Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance and Disablement Pension qualified.
The 2013 expansion added Personal Independence Payment standard and enhanced daily living components, lower-rate Attendance Allowance, middle-rate care component of Disability Living Allowance and Armed Forces Independence Payment. Many councils continued to state that only higher-rate benefits qualified despite the rule change more than a decade earlier.
The campaign, launched in January 2026, prompted the Government to write to councils across England in February 2026 urging them to ensure their Council Tax support information was accurate and up to date. All 69 identified councils have now updated their online guidance.
Unpaid carers who provide at least 35 hours of care each week to someone in the same household are being encouraged to check whether they qualify. The person receiving care cannot be the carer’s spouse, partner or a child under 18 and must be claiming certain disability-related benefits.
