Help with paying council tax

The amount payable for council tax may be reduced in three ways, and these are applied in a certain order. The liable person may be eligible for more than one category of reduction.

The order in which the reductions are applied is as follows:

• the disability reduction scheme

• council tax discounts

• council tax reduction

Disability reduction scheme

The disability reduction scheme aims to ensure that a disabled person does not pay more council tax because they live in a larger property than they would have needed if they were not disabled, or lives in a house where the living area available for normal use is reduced.

Council tax discount

A council tax discount will apply where there is only one adult living in the property, or where there are at least two adults aged 18 or over living in the property, one or more of those people is disregarded.

Council tax reduction

The rules on council tax reductions are set by the Scottish Government and run by local authorities. Council tax deductions are applied after any disability reduction or council tax discount has been taken into account.