A council tax payer may ask the council to reconsider its decision at any point after receiving confirmation of council tax support.
You must inform the council as soon as possible, in writing, stating the grounds on which you think your council tax bill is wrong.
You can appeal if you think:
- you should be entitled to council tax support under the council tax support scheme
- the amount of council tax support to which you are entitled to is wrong
The council will then look at your claim and tell you the outcome of the reconsideration, outlining the reasons.
If the decision is not changed in your favour, you have the right to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for England. This must be within 2 months of the date of the reconsideration.
The council must respond to you within 2 months of receiving a challenge to the council tax support calculation.
Your right to appeal
You may further appeal in writing to the Valuation Tribunal within 2 months if:
- a response has not been given within a period of 2 months from the date of the written reconsideration
- we have considered the case and notified you of the outcome in writing but you are still dissatisfied
The following specific matters cannot be appealed against:
- any discretion applied to recover an overpayment of council tax support
- who to recover an overpayment of council tax support from
- suspending or restoring council tax support
You may also at any time, in writing, request that we review your entitlement to council tax support, or the amount of any support, outside of the provisions for appeals detailed above.
If you think our decision is wrong about your council tax support, you have the right to ask an independent Valuation Tribunal to look at it.
Appealing to the Valuation Tribunal
Before you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for England (VTE) you must have written to the council explaining the grounds on which you are challenging the calculation of the council tax support, giving the council an opportunity to resolve the matter. If you remain dissatisfied then you can appeal to the VTE within 2 months of receiving a written response from the council.
If the council fails to respond to your grievance within 2 months then you can appeal direct to the VTE within 4 months of sending your grievance to the council’s decision.
You will need to fill in a council tax reduction scheme appeal form.
The VTE cannot hear appeals about the design and contents of the council support scheme, but only how the scheme has been applied to your circumstances.
If you are not happy with the outcome of the Valuation Tribunal Appeal, a further appeal can be made to the High Court on a point of law. This must be within 4 weeks of the date the decision notice is given or, where written reasons have been requested, within 2 weeks of the provision of those reasons, if later. It should be noted that there is no recourse to the Upper Tribunal in respect of council tax support scheme appeals.