Severely Mentally Impaired
Some people, who are severely mentally impaired (SMI) can be disregarded when counting the number of residents in a property. If all but one resident is SMI, a 25% discount is applied. If all residents are SMI then the property is exempt and no Council Tax is due. This applies only if they are liable for the Council Tax bill.
To qualify for this discount, a person must be certified by their doctor to be severely mentally impaired on the grounds that they have "severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning, which appears to be permanent" and the person must be in receipt of one of the following state benefits:
- Incapacity Benefit/ Employment & Support Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance or Invalidity Pension
- Unemployability Supplement or Allowance
- Disability element of Working Tax Credit
- Attendance Allowance
- Constant Attendance Allowance (this may be included with a War Pension or Disablement Pension)
- An increase in the rate of Disablement Pension
- Personal Independence Payment (daily living component)
- Disability Living Allowance (high or middle rate care component)
- Universal Credit where the calculation includes an amount in respect of the claimant having limited capability for work/work-related activity
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Disability Working Allowance
- Disabled Element Tax Credit / Disabled Persons Tax Credit
- Income Support (which includes Disablement Premium)
- State Pension - but they would have been entitled to one of the benefits above if they had not reached retirement age.
To apply for the disregard please complete the Severely Mentally Impaired application form.