Scottish Government increases council tax reduction earnings disregard to take account of temporary increase in working tax credit basic element

New statutory instrument increases weekly disregard to £37.10 for the 2020/2021 tax year

New regulations have been issued in Scotland that increase the council tax reduction earnings disregard to take account of the temporary increase in the working tax credit basic element in 2020/2021.

In force from 6 April 2020, the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 (SSI.No.108/2020) amend the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 to increase the amount of earnings that are to be disregarded in calculating the income of an applicant for the purposes of an award of council tax reduction in the 2020/2021 tax year from £17.10 to £37.10.

NB - the increase takes account of the temporary increase in the basic element of working tax credit in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, as provided under section 77 of the Coronavirus Act 2020. The increase will cease to have effect on 4 April 2021, matching the timescale for ending the working tax credit increase.

SSI.No.108/2020 is available from legislation.gov.uk