council tax - person disregarded on grounds of Severe mental impairment

HI

Council tax schemes have been local for quite a few years and I guess there is considerable variation across the country.  Can I please check if issues such as backdating for a person be disregarded is time limited in any way? is it down to each LA to exercise discretion? or is it set in law?

ive found this:

The severely mentally impaired
2(1)A person shall be disregarded for the purposes of discount on a particular day if—
(a)on the day he is severely mentally impaired;
(b)as regards any period which includes the day he is stated in a certificate of a registered medical practitioner to have been or to be likely to be severely mentally impaired; and
(c)as regards the day he fulfils such conditions as may be prescribed by order made by the Secretary of State

I cant see anything about time limit there. I have some information that backdating can be limited to 6 years under S9 of limitations act - but then there is some caselaw from the valuation tribunal which states that this is an incorrect interpretation of the act, and that the time runs not from date of application (retrospectively) but from the date the claimant first became aware of the fact that he might be entitled to a discount

http://info.valuation-tribunals.gov.uk/Decision_Documents/documents/CT_England/1625M236154283C.pdf

I just wondered what was happening in other areas?

Hello

We had this a few years ago with our local authority. SMI plus double carer discounts had not been applied since around early 2000. We supported to get these discounts, which were applied but only 6yrs backdating because of .... you’ve guessed it “Statute of Limitations”.

We challenged further to a tribunal and were successful. I’ll try and dig out the two cases we used

HS v Leicester is one of them I think.

These decisions are not case law in the conventional sense: they are decisions of a Tribunal with similar standing to a First-tier Tribunal in social security.  But when an appeal raises an important issue like this, the President often gets personally involved and then future Valuation Tribunals will naturally follow that steer.

Thank you both for taking the time to reply.  Is it correct that this is discretionary and local authorities can decide whether to backdate; or not backdate, and time limit is down to each authority?

In a word, no.

The SMI exemption is not part of a ‘local scheme’ - its part of the legislation. It’s council tax reduction which is subject to a local scheme.

The extent to which SMI can be backdated is a question of law. It has one correct answer. It is just that we don’t definitively know what that answer is because no court has yet authoritatively opined on the issue.

So, councils are taking their best guess as to what the answer is based on their interpretation of the legislation.

Councils will differ, but not because they have some discretion to do so but just because of the legal uncertainty which exists.

If you disagree with the council’s interpretation, then you can appeal to the VTE which will make a binding decision based on its interpretation which is likely to follow the various presidential decisions referred to in the case you quote.

Thank you Elliot - I didnt think that it was ‘local’ but read a thread on here somewhere that suggested that it was. I will now speak to the caseworker/client to see how best to proceed.

Thank you for your help