Billing authorities in England were required to have made all payments within scope of the reconciliation process for the 2022-23 Council Tax Rebate by 30 September 2022, under guidance issued by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities1. The rebate was announced on 3 February 2022 as part of a package of support for rising energy costs, and funding was paid to billing authorities in March 20221.
The core rebate was a £150 non-repayable payment for households in England in council tax bands A to D1. Eligibility was determined by a property's position at the end of the day on 1 April 2022, and only one £150 payment was to be made per household, regardless of the number of occupants or liable council taxpayers1. The guidance states that all Council Tax Rebate grants should be paid as soon as possible from April1.
"All payments within scope of the reconciliation process will need to have been made by 30 September 2022."
Alongside the core rebate, the government provided a £144 million Discretionary Fund for billing authorities to support any household in need, regardless of council tax band1. Allocations from that fund should be spent by 30 November 2022, and any unspent funding by that date will be required to be repaid to government; in the event of an overspend, no additional funding will be provided1.
| Item | Amount | Key date |
|---|---|---|
| Core Council Tax Rebate | £150 per eligible household | Payments within reconciliation scope by 30 September 2022 |
| Discretionary Fund | £144 million total | Spend by 30 November 2022 |
| Energy Bill Support Scheme | £400 per domestic customer | Credit from energy suppliers from October 2022 |
The guidance applies to England only, with the devolved administrations receiving around £576 million corresponding funding through the Barnett formula1. Payments under both the rebate and the Discretionary Fund are non-taxable and are treated as local welfare provision, so they are not taken into account in the calculation of income-related benefits1.
Why it matters for households
The 30 September deadline marked the point at which the reconciliation exercise closed for the core £150 rebate, meaning payments made after that date fell outside the process against which government funding was settled1. For a household that was eligible but had not received the payment, the guidance set out that councils should take reasonable steps to pay or clawback where records were retrospectively updated, though councils were not required to pay or clawback where a property band was amended retrospectively, except for new builds awaiting an official banding from the Valuation Office Agency1.
The separate 30 November deadline for the Discretionary Fund matters because any money a council had not spent by then had to be returned to government, and no extra funding was available for overspends1. That fund was the route by which councils could support households outside bands A to D, including occupants of certain exempt properties and those in Houses in Multiple Occupation where the liable taxpayer did not occupy the property1.
For a home's energy independence, the rebate was a one-off cash payment rather than a contribution to insulation, heating controls or other permanent measures, so it did not change a property's underlying energy performance. Households looking at longer-term work have separate routes, including council and local authority energy grants and the ECO4 scheme, with the wider landscape set out in the grants and schemes hub. The guidance also warned that a ratepayer who provides false information to obtain the rebate or Discretionary Fund may be guilty of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006, and councils were advised to include information on how households can check that contact is genuinely from the council1, a point relevant to energy grant scams.
What happens next
The guidance sets out that any over-funding of grant to billing authorities will be required to be paid back to government, and any under-funding will be settled with billing authorities following the reconciliation1. No further deadlines beyond 30 September 2022 for the core rebate and 30 November 2022 for the Discretionary Fund are given in the guidance1.