Thousands of dementia sufferers overcharged for council tax

DEMENTIA sufferers are overpaying thousands of pounds in council tax because they do not realise they can get a discount, an investigation has revealed.

Up to 100,000 people could be wrongly paying council tax to their local authority, with many being given incorrect information about their right to be exempt.

Anyone with a severe mental impairment such as dementia does not have to pay council tax, meaning those living alone should receive a 100 per cent discount.

If a household has two people, such as a disabled person and a carer, the household is entitled to a 25 per cent discount.

But in some areas a tiny proportion of households are receiving the discounts – and many councils are giving out inaccurate information, a Moneysavingexpert investigation found. The website conducted a mystery shopping exercise and found that two thirds of councils were unable to provide accurate information about the exemption and how to apply for it.

East Ayrshire had the lowest proportion of claimants, with just 11 households receiving the discount out of a total of 57,392.

Martin Lewis, founder of Moneysavingexpert.com, said the system amounted to a “postcode lottery”, with councils very close to each other returning dramatically different figures on uptake of the discount. Mr Lewis said: “In some council areas the number of people actually receiving the discount is paltry. As councils don’t actually lose money from this – it’s funded by central government – it’s tough not to think the cause is just mass council ineptitude in administering it.”

Alex Mcphee, deputy chief executive and chief financial officer at East Ayrshire council, said: “We are grateful that this has been brought to our attention and we will be talking to councils whose incidence of uptake is high with a view to seeing whether this is an accident of geography or if they do anything differently that we can learn from.”

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: “It is important that people are correctly advised and that those who are entitled to this discount are able to access it.

“We will be suggesting to our member councils that they reassure themselves of their advice and procedures on the SMI exemption in light of these findings.”