Challenging a Council Tax Reduction decision

If you don't agree with the local council's decision, or the way it has dealt with your Council Tax Reduction (CTR) application, you can:

• ask the local council to review its decision

• appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Local Taxation Chamber) - you must ask the local council to review its decision first

• complain, even if you do not ask for a review.

Even if you have taken one or more of these actions, you must still make the payments shown on your Council Tax bill. Read more about Council Tax arrears.

Asking the local council to review its decision

If you disagree with the decision about your application, you should write to the local council and ask them to review it. You should say what you think is wrong. You should do this within 2 months of the date that the local council tells you its decision.

The local council must consider your request for a review and tell you in writing what it decides. The review will be conducted by a local council officer, or officers, who had no part in making the first decision about your application.

If you disagree with the review of the decision

If you still disagree when you have received the local council's review of its Council Tax Reduction decision, you can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Local Taxation Chamber).

There’s a time limit for appealing to the tribunal.

Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal

The First-tier Tribunal (Local Taxation Chamber) hears appeals. The tribunal is independent from the local council.

You must usually wait for the outcome of the local council’s review of its Council Tax Reduction decision before you can appeal to the tribunal.

You must still make the payments shown on your Council Tax bill. Read more about Council Tax arrears.

Time limit for an appeal

You must appeal to the tribunal within 42 days of the local council telling you the outcome of its review. 

You can also appeal to the tribunal if the local council hasn’t replied to you within 2 months of you asking it to review its Council Tax Reduction decision. In this case, you must appeal to the tribunal within 42 days of the end of the 2-month period. 

If you’ve missed the time limit but you think you have a good reason, you might be able to make a late appeal. You must explain why the appeal is late, and the tribunal will decide if it will extend the time limit. 

How to appeal

The local council’s review decision letter will tell you how to appeal. 

You can find an appeal form, guidance notes and information about how to appeal on the First-tier Tribunal (Local Taxation Chamber) website. 

After you've asked for an appeal

When the tribunal has received your appeal, it will contact you within 14 days to acknowledge it. You might be asked for more information. 

If everyone agrees, the tribunal might make a decision based on written statements. Your local council will send you the documents it is submitting to the tribunal. 

You might be asked to attend a hearing in person. This is called an oral hearing.

You can find out more about what happens at the tribunal on the First-tier Tribunal (Local Taxation Chamber) website. 

You can have a representative at a hearing, and you can bring someone to support you. Anyone can be a representative or a supporter, including friends and family. 

Find out more about getting someone to represent or help you at the tribunal. 

If you decide you don’t want to carry on with the appeal, you can tell the tribunal in writing at any time before the hearing. You can also tell the tribunal in writing, or in person, at the hearing. 

The tribunal must give its decision in writing and include a statement of the facts and reasons for its decision. 

If the tribunal decides that your Council Tax Reduction should be revised, your local council should re-calculate your Council Tax Reduction in a reasonable time. 

If you disagree with the outcome of the appeal

If you disagree with the tribunal’s decision, you might be able to ask:

• the tribunal to review its decision 

• for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal on a point of law.

An appeal to the Upper Tribunal must be on a point of law. This means that the Upper Tribunal will look at whether the First-tier Tribunal applied the law correctly in making the decision. If you want to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, you must ask for permission to do this.

The First-tier Tribunal’s decision will tell you how you can ask for a review of the decision, or permission to appeal on a point of law. 

You can find out more about asking for a review or appeal of the tribunal’s decision on the First-tier Tribunal (Local Taxation Chamber) website.

You can get advice from a Citizens Advice Bureau. 

Complaints

You can make a complaint if you think your local council has:

• acted unfairly or unreasonably

• provided a poor service when dealing with your Council Tax Reduction application.

You can complain whether or not you also ask for the decision to be reviewed, or for an appeal.

Your local council should have its own complaints procedure which is publicly available. The complaints procedure usually has several stages. You can find your local council on mygov.scot.

If you disagree with the response from the local council, or if no action is taken, you can raise your complaint with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. Find out more about taking a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.