Does council tax benefit cover the full bill?
If you are getting income support/income-based JSA and you or your partner are solely responsible for the bill, council tax benefit may cover the full bill. If there is more than one person responsible, i.e., single people sharing a house, each one will have to apply for council tax benefit to cover their share. Since April 1998 there is a limit on the amount of council tax benefit awarded to people living in bands F, G and H. Benefit is restricted to the maximum payable on a band E property. This restriction will not apply to people who were getting council tax benefit on 31.3.98 as long as they remain in the same property and do not break their claim for more than 12 weeks. If you are not getting income support/income-based JSA but your income is low, the amount of benefit you get depends on the size of your family and your income. You cannot get council tax benefit if you have more than 16,000 in savings no matter how low your income is (but see below about second adult rebate). For
