2nd Adult Rebate and savings

Hi

We have a second adult who has no income but savings in excess of 16k.  All of the guidance on the topic refers to the income of the second adult.  Would the savings prevent 2nd adult rebate being paid?

Thanks

I think you would have to argue that Second Adult Rebate is somehow separate and not just an alternative form of CTR, otherwise the capital limit in Reg 66 would still apply

I’m not sure you can do this, as entitlement to 2nd A R is set out in the conditions of entitlement to CTR in Reg 13

I think that we need to know both whose capital it is, and the age of the applicant (ie person liable for coucil tax).

As Sean says, reg 13 of the working age regs must be satsifed for the applicant to qualify for second adult rebate (SAR), and reg 13(1) is explicit that the applicant cannot qualify for any kind of working age CTR if their capital exceeds the limit in reg 66: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2021/249/regulation/13.

But if you look at reg 14 of the pension age regs, there is no such capital limit to qualify for SAR: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2012/319/regulation/14. (There wasn’t in the 2012 working age regs either.) So if the council tax payer is over pension age, I think that the question of capital doesn’t arise in relation to the applicant’s entitleement to SAR.

In any event, if the second adult has the capital, they cannot be excluded by reg 13(1), which is explicit who the ‘relevant person’ is. So unless the LA interpret the references in reg 13(7) and Sch 2 (in the working age regs, but I think the same applies in the pension age scheme) as also including the second adult’s capital within the definition of their ‘income’, then I think that the council tax payer should still qualify.

I think I would be quite confident in challenging such a decision, myself. If you look at the bands in Sch 2, they are expressed in terms of ‘weekly’ income. So it isn’t clear to me how the LA could make a rational decision about the band to put someone in as a result of having savings over £16,000 - if it wasn’t to just look at any income the person has, either from the capital or from other sources. Even if they took the apporach of applying the tariff income rules (which I think would be incorrect - as Sch 2 para 2(b) strongly implies that the provisions of PArt 6 don’t apply to the income of second adults), then that would not be treated as generating an income of £224 a week unless the second adult had savings over £62,000…

Jon