Payment start date for north Northants council tax rebate announced

Residents in the North Northants Council (NNC) area will start receiving their council tax energy rebate of £150 from next week – if they pay by direct debit and if they are eligible.

In February the Government announced that about 20 million households in England in council tax bands A to D would get a £150 rebate from April.

Councils can also provide discretionary support to vulnerable households who may not qualify for the rebate - including people on low incomes in council tax bands E to H.

A spokesman for NNC said: “Subject to successful system checks, we are aiming to start making payments of the £150 energy rebate for those who are eligible, and pay via direct bebit, in the week commencing May 9.

“Those paying via other means will be contacted soon and we’ll explain what needs to be done to receive the rebate.”

The £150 rebate will not need to be repaid.

People who do not pay their council tax via direct debit will be contacted by NNC.

NNC said: “For those that do not pay their council tax via direct bebit, we will shortly be contacting customers directly to invite them to provide the necessary details via a simple online form or via other methods available on request. These details will then be verified to enable a payment to be made.”

The energy rebate is a government payment based on council tax data and is not a rebate to the council tax bill.

Fuel bills have risen sharply since October 2021 with the price of gas increasing four-fold.

Households in council tax bands A to D will receive the £150 council tax rebate giving four out of five households in England the rebate, including about 95 per cent of rented properties. However, second homes or empty properties will not benefit.

For people who pay council tax by direct debit, in most cases, the rebate will go directly into bank accounts.

To help spread the cost of the recent jump in energy prices over several years, customers will have £200 of this year’s energy bill taken off from October and spread equally over the next five years, to ease the burden on family budgets.