inactive across the UK - are you owed money?" />The one-off payment of £150 was set out by the chancellor Rishi Sunak in February to combat the cost of living crisis.
Thomas Cramp Local Democracy Reporterinactive across the UK - are you owed money?" />
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Households in Birmingham could receive their council tax rebate of £150 as soon as ‘the beginning of May’, providing the council has your bank details on record. A deadline for all payments has been set for September 30, 2022, giving Birmingham City Council a five-month window to ensure every eligible household receives its rebate.
The scheme set out by Rishi Sunak in February 2022 aims to give households within council tax bands A to D a one-off payment of £150 to help combat the cost of living crisis. The £150 comes in the form of a non-repayable rebate and is not a reduction of a council tax bill.
The payment will be made automatically for those who pay their council tax through direct debit, providing the name of the person who pays the bill matches the name of the bank account holder. The council has urged people not to contact them and instead wait to receive the money if they pay their council tax this way.
Households who do not pay their council tax via direct debit are encouraged to use the Grant Approval Website where they can enter their bank details, council tax bill reference number and property/local authority reference number. Alternatively, non-direct debit payers can request the £150 as a reduction of their council tax bill through their BRUM account.
Information on the Birmingham City Council website says: “We will process your application and make the payment once the details have been verified. It is likely payments will start being issued from the beginning of May however we will confirm this once we have clearer timescales.”
The website also says that extra funding has been provided for councils to operate a Discretionary Scheme to support households that do not qualify for the Council Tax Rebate. This could include, for example, low-income households living in properties valued in bands E to H.
Earlier this month, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed that more than 444,000 households across the West Midlands currently pay council tax manually, meaning they will have to provide the council with their bank details to receive the rebate. 211,000 of these households are in Birmingham.
A Birmingham city council spokesperson said at the time: “We are due to receive funding at the end of March and will need to ensure all council tax rebate payments are made by 30 September. We anticipate, following verification checks, the first payments will start to be made towards the end of April/beginning of May, however, this will be confirmed when the timescales have been finalised.
“If you already pay your council tax bill by direct debit and the name(s) of the bank account held matches the name(s) on the council tax bill, you do not need to contact us. It’s not too late to set up your direct debit if you already have (or would like to register for) a BRUM account (sign in or register for a BRUM account here). Alternatively, you can complete a Direct Debit form without creating a BRUM account.
“As this evolves, where eligible households haven’t claimed we will be looking into appropriate methods of communication i.e., social media, text, email or letter but, we do have until the end of September to reach out to those citizens who haven’t contacted us.”
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