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Council Tax & SMI

NAS70834

Hello!

I'm new here, so please go easy on me. 

In June last year I finally received my Autism diagnosis. It was a huge relief as it explained what I liked to call my quirks. I've always felt different to others and to finally understand why was such a weight off my shoulders. 

Whilst looking into my entitlement to PIP, I was advised by my local council that because of my condition, and the way in which it effects my daily life, that I may be entitled to the SMI discount for council tax. 

I did a little bit of digging around on the net about this, and found a wonderful site that went into great depth on the matter and discovered that a lot of people had successfully applied for the SMI discount because of their autism. 

The problem I'm now experiencing is my GP will not sign the councils paperwork, as apparently they do not deem me to be "Autistic Enough" and its only for severely mentally impaired people. I'm slightly confused about this, as when you look into the councils definition of the discount, Autism meets the criteria. I Struggle socially and with my inteligence (applying knowledge to every day living) I require support in managing money, shopping, concentrating, remembering to eat, cooking, washing etc all because of my Autism. 

Has anybody had any success in applying for this? 

Parents

  • My council say it's for people who's autism means they couldn't live independently. As I'm high functioning I don't qualify. 

  • in reply to Cookiesmum1986

    No your council / local authority have disclosed that information wrongly. You can be considered relatively high function and receive the discount it would not be a full 100% discount and wouldn't be considered severe mental impairment discount. You wouldn't be entitled to the discount if you were in full time employment. but if your were single and living alone and are on benefits or only working part time you are fully entitled the to the discount.

    Anyone is entitled to council tax reduction if they are single and earn less £16,000 a year. 

    The term high functioning is now considered a discriminatory term when used to deny an individual support and any sort of financial aid.

  • in reply to Blue

    My council are terrible, I applied for the disabled council tax banding because I have home oxygen and need a room for the oxygen and things like a treatment area and they refused. My consultant wrote them a letter saying that they were wrong and I did qualify and it's obvious as there's actually a box on the form for home oxygen. 

  • in reply to Cookiesmum1986

    I never implied it was. I'm stating in the legal definition of SMI autism matches the criteria. It's written in legalise and not a medical definition. All very confusing. 

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