Savings cutoff for HB and CTB

[neword]

Currently I am going through the procedure of getting IS and CA (carer's allowance) and have just been awarded the CA, The IS is unfortunately taking a long time (currently 7 weeks and counting).

 

Lately due to notifying the council of the changes of circumstances which I am currently going through they are sending me recalculations for both HB and CTB and it's getting to be a bit of a mind boggler.

 

However today received yet another recalculation but this time the CTB award is 0 and this is apparently due to our savings going over £6k (only a few hundred over). When I spoke to someone from the council CTB department they said it was because of the 6K.

 

I had always been of the opinion that there was a sliding scale and that the benefit was worked out over i.e 6k to 16k and that for every 1k over 6k you lost approximately 10% of the benefit.

 

I have looked at several sites and they mostly suggest this sliding scale applies to CTB,

 

So, Does anyone here know for sure whether or not CTB is a straight cutoff at 6k or is it a sliding scale system like with HB,

 

The council in question is Newcastle UNDER Lyme.

 

Thanks for any information.

[neword]

Update:

 

Just browsed the actual website for this council and found this

 

Working Age Claimants - If you or your partner have capital above £6,000 then you will not qualify for help towards your Council Tax. Any capital below £6,000 is disregarded.

 

So it looks like we got to spend a few hundred (well we do need a new cooker) to come under the 6k.

 

Oh well

[antone]

Yep, my reading of the council's website is the same as yours. You'll probably be OK from a deprivation of capital point of view if you buy something necessary like a new cooker.

 

Each council now gets to set its own rules regarding Council Tax Reduction, which makes things a bit confusing.