Council Tax Hardship Fund

It is a short-term, one-off award that can help when you have tried all other forms of help and financial support to pay your Council Tax bill.

To apply you must be:

• living in the property as your main home
• liable to pay Council Tax at that the property
• currently getting Council Tax Support
• willing to make payments towards your Council Tax
• actively taking steps to deal with your financial situation, where possible

Before you apply, it is important you have checked whether you are entitled to any other Council Tax discounts or reductions.

If you do not qualify for Council Tax Support, but are facing exceptional hardship, then please contact a Debt Advice Service for support.

How to apply

You can apply for the Council Tax Hardship Fund online, using My Account,

• If you don't already have a My Account, please register first. Then, you can access the application form.
• If you can't fill in the form, you can ask someone to help you.
• The form will ask about your financial situation and that of any people who live with you. You will need to submit enough evidence with your application to help us decide if you qualify for the Fund.

Financial checks

As part of your application, we need to assess your financial situation, which could include a credit check. To make things easier and faster, we will use the Affordability Passport®. This lets you safely share your financial details with us, reducing paperwork you need to provide and speeding up the process. This won’t affect your credit score but helps us make sure you get the right support.

If you choose not to use the Affordability Passport

You can still provide the necessary financial information in other ways, such as by submitting bank statements or other supporting documents. However, this may take longer to process and could delay your application decision.

If we need more information to assess your claim

If we are unable to gather enough details about your financial situation, we may pass your information to one of our partner debt advisors, who will contact you to discuss your circumstances. It is important to have this meeting, as it will help us better understand your situation and ensure your claim is assessed fairly.

How we award funds

If you are awarded funds through the Council Tax Hardship Fund, the payment will be made directly into you Council Tax account. We are not able to make any other type of payment.