Help available for Council Tax payers in Highland
1st April 2020
Council tax payers in Highland who have lost their jobs or are experiencing a drop in their income are being encouraged to apply as quickly as possible for a reduction in their council tax.
This help, known as the ‘Council Tax Reduction Scheme', is available for lower income households, including home owners.
The person named on the council tax bill can apply online using the Highland Council's Apply Once form. Applicants supply their details only once and the Council will automatically award a range of Council-administered benefits that the applicant is entitled to receive.
Council tax payers who live alone are also prompted to apply for a 25% single person discount using the Apply Once form which is available on the Council's website at:
https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/701/council_tax/523/council_tax/4
Council tax payers who are experiencing a reduction in their income and can make reduced payments to their council tax payment, are encouraged to pay as much as they can, when they can, to minimise the amount of council tax they will eventually have to pay.
There is no need to contact the Council if you are unable to make payments or will be making reduced payments to your council tax accounts, as the Council has suspended all action to recover unpaid sums.
The money the Council collects from council tax helps to provide vital services for local communities. It is also being used to help support the Council’s humanitarian response to the coronavirus and will then be used to support the local economy through delivery of essential services for families, children and businesses.
Council tax payers whose income has not been impacted by coronavirus, or who can still afford to pay their council tax bill should continue to pay the full amount due each month. The Council will continue to collect Direct Debit payments and payments can still be made in several ways, including online, via our automated payment line on 01349 886605 and by bank credit transfer.
Help, advice and support to complete application forms for all benefits and entitlements, including ways to reduce council tax, are available from the Council’s Welfare Team by emailing welfare.support@highland.gov.uk.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
Nominations are being invited from people seeking election to 15 Highland community councils covering areas in Caithness Sutherland, Easter Ross, Wester Ross, Isle of Raasay, the Black Isle, Inverness, Nairnshire, Badenoch and Strathspey and Lochaber. Community Councils are voluntary organisations that express the views and concerns of local people within their area across a wide range of issues from new buildings and roads to local services and facilities.
COSLA leaders meet tomorrow (Friday 5 August 2022) to discuss the local government pay offer and how they can avert substantial, long term, strikes in 1200 schools and early years centres and waste and recycling centres in councils across Scotland . UNISON is urging COSLA to use this leaders meeting to agree a substantially improved pay offer to avert serious disruption across Scotland - otherwise few if any councils will avoid some level of significant disruption.
The Highland Council is urging businesses - particularly those in the tourism and hospitality sectors - to be prepared for the end of relaxation of planning and building warrant controls on 30 September 2022. In line with changes to the COVID-19 guidance from the Scottish Government many of the pandemic mitigations that were put in place in terms of the provision of temporary structures and their uses – are no longer required.
The Highland Council has launched a public consultation to ask people's views on where and how they would like to see free period products made available in the Highland area. In 2021, Scotland became the first country to pass a law to make period products freely available and reasonably easily accessible to anyone who needs them.
At the Highland Council meeting held on, 30 June 2022, elected Members agreed to progress the submission of two separate bids for round two of the UK Levelling Up Fund, these include the North Coast 500 (Transport Bid) and Portree Harbour (standalone Heritage bid). Economy and Infrastructure Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "The Levelling Up Fund offers Highland an opportunity to bid for funds that will make a transformational impact across our communities.
Members of full Council, who met yesterday - Thursday, 30 June – were presented with a report on the UK Government's Shared Prosperity Fund and provided with an update on the process currently underway to develop a Highland Investment Plan which will determine how the funding may be used locally. A financial allocation of £9,445,515 has been awarded to Highland Council over a three-year period, which runs from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025.
At the Highland Council meeting held yesterday, 30 June 2022, elected Members approved a package of support totalling £3.639m for low-income households and economic growth. The approved package consists of: £0.591m - one-off grants of £125 each will be paid automatically for around 4,700 vulnerable children and young people in Primary 1 to 6th year who received school clothing grants as at 31 May 2022.
A report outlining the key points within The Highland Council's annual accounts for the year to 31st March 2022 was presented to full Council today (30 June 2022), ahead of their submission for full audit. The report shows that the Council continued to demonstrate strong financial management during financial year 2021/22, with an overall surplus of £9m recorded against the revenue budget for the general fund.
Councillor Ron Gunn, who represents the Thurso and Northwest Sutherland Ward of The Highland Council, has been appointed as Chair of the new Caithness Committee which met for the first time (Friday 1 July 2022). After taking the Chair, Cllr Gunn thanked Members for their support and then called for nominations to the roles of Vice Chairs and Civic Leaders for Thurso and Wick.
A pioneering bid for Green Freeport status by the Opportunity Cromarty Firth (OCF) consortium today received seismic boost after Members of Highland Council homologated the local authority's cross-chamber support. Members agreed their continued support for the OCF project and Green Freeport bid and acknowledged the potential benefits to the Highland region.
