Discounts and exemptions
Skip Menu
Am I able to claim a discount for living on my own?
If you are the only person over the age of 18 living in your home, your bill will be reduced by 25 per cent. A single person discount can be applied for by using the online form below or speaking with the revenues team on 01684 272034.
Once we have your application we will send a revised bill, usually within 7 days. Depending on your circumstances, it will normally be back-dated to when ‘the resident’ was (or became) a single person.
For council tax discount purposes, some people are disregarded when we assess the number of adults living in a property. This means that the bill for a property where one of the two adult residents is disregarded will be the same as that for a property with one adult resident (bill reduced by 25% discount).
If, however there are three or more adult residents and only one is disregarded, there will be no entitlement to discount because there will still be two adults counted.
The following categories of people are disregarded when we count the number of adults living in a property:
- full-time students, student nurses, apprentices, and people on youth training schemes
- patients living in hospital long term
- patients in nursing homes, mental nursing homes, residential care homes, hospices and hostels providing a high level of care
- people who are severely mentally impaired and are entitled to certain state benefits
- people in prison or on remand and people kept in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983
- people staying in certain hostels or night shelters (who would otherwise have no home at all)
- school leavers under 20 years who have left school between 30 April and 1 November of the year in question
- some husbands, wives or dependents of students who are not British citizens and who are not allowed by the Home Office to take a job or claim benefits
- 18- to 19-year-olds for whom child benefit is paid
- care workers, working on low pay usually for a charity or local authority
- people who care for someone with a disability who is not their partner or a child under 18 years, if the person receiving care is entitled to certain state benefits
- a person who is a member of an organisation listed under the International Headquarters and Defence Organisations Act 1964, and his/her dependents
- people who are members of visiting force as set out in the Visiting Forces Act 1952
- members of religious communities who receive no income
- people with diplomatic immunity
Are there any discounts for people with disabilities?
If you or someone who lives with you (adult or child) uses a wheelchair indoors or has an additional bathroom, kitchen or other rooms to meet special needs arising from a disability, they could be entitled to Disabled Persons Relief.
For properties in band B to H the relief is given by calculating your council tax bill on the valuation band lower than the one allocated to your property.
From the 1 April 2000 Disabled Person’s Relief may also apply to band A properties. The reduction for a band A property will be calculated in line with other bands. The reduction ensures that disabled people do not pay more tax on account of space needed because of a disability.
If you think you may be eligible for a reduction, please complete an online application. Alternatively, please download the application form, complete and return by email to revenues@tewkesbury.gov.uk.
Are there any discounts for students?
If you are a full time student aged 18 years or over who is resident in the household, you may be entitled to a discount. If the property is wholly occupied by full time students, the property will be exempt from council tax.
Someone qualifies as a student if he or she is:
- On a full-time course of higher education i.e. undertaking a university or college course which lasts for at least an academic year, takes at least 24 weeks a year and involves at least 21 hours of study per week during term-time;
- On a qualifying course of further education i.e. under 20 years old, following a course which lasts more than three months and at least 12 hours per week for any qualification up to A level, ONC or OND standard. (Correspondence courses, evening classes, or courses taken up with a person’s job, such as day release, are not included);
- Registered as a foreign language assistant with the Central Bureau for Educational Visits and Exchanges. (Overseas students, including a spouse/dependent who is not a UK Citizen and who is prevented from taking paid employment or from claiming benefits, can qualify in the same way as home students.)
If you think you are eligible for a discount, please complete an online application.
Alternatively, please download the application form, complete and return by email to revenues@tewkesbury.gov.uk. Please also enclose documentary evidence of student status in the form of a certificate obtained from the Educational Institution, please note that your application cannot be considered without this.
Care leaver discount
The council provides a local discount for its care leavers to reduce their council tax bill until they reach their 22nd birthday.
If you are a Gloucestershire care leaver you still need to apply for any other reduction you may be entitled to such as:
- student discount or exemption
- single person discount
- council tax reduction
We will automatically award you a top-up discount until your 22nd birthday once we have received confirmation from Gloucestershire County Council’s 11-25 Permanency Service that you are a ‘Former Relevant Child’.
The discount only applies to Gloucestershire County Council care leavers living in Tewkesbury borough. For full details please read our policy.
Empty homes
With effect from the 1st April 2020, properties which are unoccupied and unfurnished will be granted a 25% discount for a maximum of six months. The full council tax charge will then be payable.
Empty homes discount is awarded in respect of the property, if the property was registered unoccupied and unfurnished prior to you moving in, you will only receive the remaining period of the maximum six-month period.
Second homes
Properties that are furnished, but not occupied as anyone’s main home are classed as second homes. No discount is awarded.
Which properties are exempt from council tax?
Class B
- Unoccupied properties that are owned and were last used by a charity. The exemption lasts for a maximum period of six months.
Class D
- Unoccupied properties which were owned and were previously occupied by someone who is detained in prison or hospital by order of a court, under the Mental Health Act 1983 or under the deportation provision of the Immigration Act 1972.
Class E
- Unoccupied properties which were previously occupied by someone who’s now living in a hospital, residential care home, nursing home or hostel and who owns or retains the tenancy for the property.
If you think you, or the liable person, may be eligible for this exemption, please complete the online application. Alternatively, please download the application from, complete and return by email to revenues@tewkesbury.gov.uk
Class F
- Unoccupied properties left empty following the death of a sole owner or tenant, where probate or letters of administration have not yet been granted and for up to six months after. The property must have remained empty since the date of death for the exemption to apply.
Class G
- A dwelling whose occupation is forbidden by law, or which is kept unoccupied because of impending compulsory purchase.
Class H
- Properties held vacant for future occupation by a minister of religion.
Class I
- Properties left unoccupied by people who’ve moved elsewhere to receive personal care.
Class J
- Properties left unoccupied by people who’ve moved to provide personal care to another person who lives elsewhere.
Class K
- Properties left unoccupied by a student who left to study elsewhere and the vacant property was their main or only home.
Class L
- Unoccupied properties that have been repossessed by a mortgage provider.
Class M
- An unoccupied dwelling used by student as a hall of residence.
Class N
- Properties occupied entirely by students.
Class O
- Armed forces accommodation owned by the Ministry of Defence.
Class P
- An occupied dwelling used by a member of a visiting force as accommodation.
Class Q
- Unoccupied properties where the person responsible for paying the Council Tax is a trustee in bankruptcy.
Class R
- A pitch or a mooring which isn’t occupied by a caravan or a boat.
Class S
- Properties occupied only by a person or persons aged under 18.
Class T
- Properties forming part of another dwelling, such as granny flats or annexes, which can’t be let separately.
Class U
- Properties occupied only by a person(s) who is (are) severely mentally impaired.
Class V
- Properties occupied by diplomats, persons who have diplomatic immunity, and certain members of their household.
Class W
- An annexe or self-contained part of a property, which is occupied by an elderly, disabled or severely mentally impaired relative of the resident(s) living in the main part of the property.