Second Adult Rebate (SAR)

What is Second Adult Rebate (SAR)?

Second adult rebate is a rebate you can get on your council tax. You might be entitled to claim if you have a second adult living with you who is not your partner and whose income is low or who is on certain types of benefits.

If you are of pension age and a dependant adult lives with you, you may be entitled to second adult rebate.

The amount that your council tax is reduced by will depend on the income of the adult that lives with you. Their capital is not taken into account.

Who can claim

You may be able to claim SAR if you can't get Council Tax Reduction because your income or capital is too high. Capital means things like savings and certain types of property.

We will only look at the income of the person that is living with you, and not at your own income or capital.

The adult living with you:

• must be over 18
• must not be your husband, wife, partner or civil partner
• shouldn't have joint responsibility with you for paying council tax
• doesn't have to pay you rent
• must not be a joint owner or tenant 
• must have income below a certain amount, or who gets benefits

If there is more than one 'second' adult living with you

If there is more than one second adult sharing your home, the income of both or all of them is taken into account, except for the disability payments. If one of the adults is getting any of the following benefits, their income is also ignored:

• Income Support
• Pension Credit
• income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment And Support Allowance (ESA)
• universal credit

The local authority will count the income of any other second adult who isn't getting one of these benefits.

If you're entitled to second adult rebate, it will be based on the income of the second adult who isn't on benefits.

How to claim

Complete the online claim form.

The only income details that will be required are for the second adult - you do not need to enter your own income details.