Change in circumstance for Council Tax Reduction
If your circumstances change, you have one month from the date of the change to tell us about it. You will also have to give us evidence of the change.
If there is a change in circumstance, you might be getting the wrong amount of Council Tax Reduction. If you don’t get enough Council Tax Reduction, you will lose money if you don’t tell us about the change. If you get too much Council Tax Reduction, we will add the incorrect amount to your Council Tax account. You will then have to pay this back to us, along with the rest of your Council Tax bill.
If don’t let us know about a change in circumstance, you will be committing benefit fraud. You can find out about benefit fraud on GOV.UK.
You need to tell us if you or anyone living with you:
- has a change of income
- has a change of savings or capital
- moves in or out of your home
- changes job (including working hours or employer)
- leaves home temporarily (to go to hospital or to prison)
- has a change in other benefits
- has a change in rent
If you claim Council Tax Reduction, you are responsible for reporting any change in circumstance. You can’t rely on anyone else to report the change for you.
You have one month from reporting your change of circumstance to give us the evidence we need. If you don’t, we will suspend your claim.
To report a change of circumstances, you will need:
- your name, address and contact details
- your benefits claim number, which starts with 100
- the date each change happened or is going to happen
- full information about each change
Online
You can tell us about a change online now.
By phone
To tell us about a change in circumstance by phone, you can call 01245 606400.
You should choose option 1, and then option 1 again.
Online
You can visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/upload to submit scanned or photographed images of your evidence.
By post
You can send documents to:
Benefit Section
Civic Centre
Duke Street
Chelmsford
CM1 1JE
If you submit your evidence by post, we will post it back to you.