Council Tax Exemption
To get complete Council Tax exemption a person must be getting DLA at amiddle or higher rate or some form of state benefits like Income Supoort and have a Dr or Psychiatrist will to support you by filling out a Severely Mentally Impaired (SMI) form stating that you have suffered since a certain date.

If you are living alone you can get 100% exemption, if all the adults in the house have an SMI then you get 100% exemption, if only one person in a couple have SMI then they get 25% reduction (as for a single person rebate).

My psychiatrist supports me and this means I have full Council Tax exemption from the date I got awarded DLA.

Don't worry too much about the name SMI, its just the way the form is worded. If you have a mental illness/condition that is long standing you should get some DLA and get exemption from Council Tax if you have significatn social impairment ie have a psychotic elements.

Forms can be got from your local Council office. Its a very simple 1 page form (2 sides) but requires an official stamp from your dr.

This post has been edited by firelizardee: Aug 19 2006, 08:02 AM

I've applied for DLA, incapacity benefit, etc. It's been several weeks and I'm still waiting. I'm told there's about a year's wait to see a psychiatrist on the NHS in my area of Scotland. Just griping!

(((Kelso))) Hang in there! Here is the US (at least for me) it takes a ridiculously long time to get through the disability process. Good luck!

Kelso
it can take up to 8 weeks for them to make a decision about your DLA. If they turn you donw you can appeal, saying that they haven't take the full extent of your illness in consideration. You may need to get letters of support from a GP.

IB should be through a lot sooner, I can't remmber how long it took me to get IB but I think I went straight from Income Support onto IB because I'd been on IS for a year.

Its a long time to wait to see a psychiatrist, keep talking to your GP or see if there are any charity or voluntary counselling services in your area. Your GP might know of some.

Eileen