The single person council tax discount: rules, reviews and partners moving in

• ✓GOV.UK says you get 25% off your bill if you pay council tax and either you live on your own or everyone else in your home is disregarded.
• ✓A full bill assumes at least 2 adults, and spouses and partners who live together are jointly responsible for it (GOV.UK).
• ✓The 25% is set in law: section 11 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for England and section 79 for Scotland. Both let the government change the percentage by order.
• ✓You have to apply. GOV.UK says you need to apply for a discount or exemption even if you are disregarded.
• ✓Wales: 25% when only one adult lives in the property, or every other adult is disregarded (GOV.WALES). Scotland: a single adult discount if you are counted as the only adult in your home (mygov.scot).
• ✓Northern Ireland has no single person discount on domestic rates. nidirect's help with rates covers Housing Benefit and Rate Relief, Rate Rebate, the Disabled Persons Allowance and the Lone Pensioner Allowance, which gives 20% off to people aged 70 or over who live alone.

Sources: GOV.UK: Council Tax, who has to pay (read 15 October 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Local Government Finance Act 1992, section 11 (discounts, England) (read 15 October 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Local Government Finance Act 1992, section 79 (discounts, Scotland) (read 15 October 2026); GOV.WALES: Council Tax discounts, disregards, exemptions and reductions (updated 28 September 2026) (read 15 October 2026); mygov.scot: Council Tax discounts, exemptions and reductions (read 15 October 2026); nidirect: help paying your rates (read 15 October 2026); nidirect: Lone Pensioner Allowance (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓GOV.UK's list includes under 18s, full-time students, student nurses, 18 and 19 year olds in full-time education, apprentices on certain schemes, people who are severely mentally impaired, and live-in carers for someone who is not their partner, spouse or child under 18.
• ✓Apprentices need a declaration from their employer that they will not be paid more than £195 a week and that the training leads to an accredited qualification (GOV.UK).
• ✓Carers: the government's April 2026 response describes two disregards. One covers care workers who work at least 24 hours a week and earn no more than £44 a week for it. The other covers someone who cares for at least 35 hours a week, on average, for a person they live with who gets a qualifying benefit, unless they are that person's spouse or partner, or the parent of a child under 18 they care for.
• ✓Scotland lists care leavers under 26 among the people not counted (mygov.scot), and GOV.WALES lists care leavers too.
• ✓Someone who stays a few nights a week can count as living with you. Richmond Council, for example, says a friend or relative who keeps belongings at your home makes it their main residence.

Sources: GOV.UK: Council Tax, who has to pay (read 15 October 2026); GOV.UK: modernising and improving the administration of council tax, government response (updated 15 April 2026) (read 15 October 2026); mygov.scot: Council Tax discounts, exemptions and reductions (read 15 October 2026); GOV.WALES: Council Tax discounts, disregards, exemptions and reductions (updated 28 September 2026) (read 15 October 2026); London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (example council): single person discount review FAQs (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓The Cabinet Office runs the National Fraud Initiative. For 2026/27 it requires every council in England, Wales and Scotland to submit council tax and electoral register data for matching, from 1 December 2026 to 22 January 2027.
• ✓Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, as one example, cross-checks claims against electoral registers and credit reference agency data, and writes to everyone because that data may not be reliable.
• ✓Richmond Council, as another, reviews everyone claiming the discount, gives 14 days to reply, then sends a reminder before removing the discount and issuing a new bill.
• ✓City of Doncaster Council runs a rolling review and says corrections are made back to the date of the change.
• ✓Check a review is genuine before replying. Richmond says its review texts come from 'Nottingham' and its emails from one government notifications address, and to contact it using your letter if you are unsure.

Sources: Cabinet Office: National Fraud Initiative timetable, Council Tax single person discount 2026-27 (updated 8 July 2026) (read 15 October 2026); Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (example council): single person discount review (read 15 October 2026); London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (example council): single person discount review FAQs (read 15 October 2026); City of Doncaster Council (example council): single occupier discount review (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓Richmond, for example, assumes your circumstances have changed and removes the discount if you do not respond to its reminder.
• ✓Tunbridge Wells withdraws the discount from the start of the financial year, or from when it was applied that year, if you fail to respond, and says a penalty may follow if another adult is found to live there.
• ✓Doncaster says failing to return its review letter will result in your discount being cancelled.
• ✓If you are still the only adult counted, you can apply again. Richmond, for example, has an online form for anyone whose discount was removed after a late reply.
• ✓GOV.UK says that if you get a discount by mistake you must contact your council or you could get a fine, and the council may ask you to pay the discount back.

Sources: London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (example council): single person discount review FAQs (read 15 October 2026); Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (example council): single person discount review (read 15 October 2026); City of Doncaster Council (example council): single occupier discount review (read 15 October 2026); GOV.UK: Council Tax, who has to pay (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓Council tax is worked out day by day, and the 25% applies on a day when only one resident is not disregarded (section 11 of the 1992 Act, England).
• ✓In England, regulation 16 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 says to tell the council in writing within 21 days of having reason to believe a discount no longer applies.
• ✓Schedule 3 to the 1992 Act lets a council charge £70 if you fail to tell it without a reasonable excuse. A council can quash a penalty it has imposed.
• ✓Partners who live together are jointly responsible for the bill (GOV.UK), so you share the full charge from the day they move in. A partner who is a full-time student is not counted, so the 25% can stay.
• ✓A lodger or housemate who is not disregarded ends the discount in the same way.

Sources: legislation.gov.uk: Local Government Finance Act 1992, section 11 (discounts, England) (read 15 October 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, regulation 16 (read 15 October 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Local Government Finance Act 1992, schedule 3 (penalties) (read 15 October 2026); GOV.UK: Council Tax, who has to pay (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓GOV.UK still says you get 25% off if you live on your own or everyone else in your home is disregarded.
• ✓The UK government's council tax enforcement response, updated 12 October 2026, says 'There are currently no plans to reform council tax'.
• ✓The Welsh Government says 'We have decided to keep the 25% single adult discount'.
• ✓The House of Commons Library noted in October 2024, after reports that the government had ruled out scrapping it, that 'No government has proposed ending the single person discount since it was introduced in 1993'.
• ✓The UK Budget is on 28 October 2026 (HM Treasury). We will update this page if it announces anything about the discount.

Sources: GOV.UK: Council Tax, who has to pay (read 15 October 2026); GOV.UK: improving enforcement of council tax, government response (updated 12 October 2026) (read 15 October 2026); GOV.WALES: find out about how we are reforming Council Tax (read 15 October 2026); House of Commons Library: what would happen if the single person discount on council tax was abolished? (3 October 2024) (read 15 October 2026); HM Treasury: Chancellor's letter to the Treasury Committee on the Budget date (31 July 2026) (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓GOV.UK says you need to apply even if everyone else is disregarded, and its discount service finds your council in England and Wales.
• ✓In England, a discount that stops applying must be reported in writing within 21 days (regulation 16), and a £70 penalty can follow if it is not (schedule 3).

Sources: GOV.UK: Council Tax, who has to pay (read 15 October 2026); GOV.UK: apply for a Council Tax discount (England and Wales) (read 15 October 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, regulation 16 (read 15 October 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Local Government Finance Act 1992, schedule 3 (penalties) (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓Add your address and Taupia finds the council, and the band where it can match the address, and flags the discounts that might apply, including the single person discount. You apply to the council yourself.
• ✓Taupia does not contact your council or answer review letters for you.
• ✓In a shared home, council tax sits on the same list as energy, broadband, water and mobile, split by your household's own rule, with who has paid shown to everyone. No money moves through Taupia.
• ✓Taupia is free.