Amendment of council tax rules in Wales for those opening up their homes under the Homes for Ukraine scheme

New statutory instrument

New regulations have been issued that provide for the amendment of council tax rules in Wales that apply to those opening up their homes under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

In force from 21 July 2022, the Council Tax (Amendments relating to Discount Disregards and Exempt Dwellings) (Wales) Regulations 2022 (SI.No.722/2022) amend the Council Tax (Additional Provisions for Discount Disregards) Regulations 1992 (SI.No.2942/1992) (the Discount Disregards Regulations) and the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) Order 1992 (SI.No.558/1992) (the Exempt Dwellings Order).

In particular -

• regulation 2 amends the Discount Disregards Regulations to prescribe persons sponsored under the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme as disregarded for council tax discounts - this will protect the sponsor’s single person discount and the 50 per cent discount received by any households where all the occupants are already disregarded; and
• regulation 3 amends the Exempt Dwellings Order to ensure that a person being accommodated in an exempt dwelling under the Homes for Ukraine scheme does not affect the exempt status of the dwelling.

NB - the regulations make amendments to council tax in Wales corresponding to those made in England by SI.No.439/2022 and in Scotland by SSI.No.124/2022 and SSI.No.125/2022.

SI.No.722/2022 (W. 160) is available from legislation.gov.uk