Civic Centre Access Restrictions

VISITORS to Hartlepool Civic Centre and the adjoining Law Courts are advised that essential repair work will start shortly at the front entrance to the building. From next week (w/c 6th February)

A to Z of services: Band reductions on the home of a disabled person

Band reductions on the home of a disabled person: Outline

Your bill may be reduced if your home has certain features which are essential, or of major importance, to the well-being of a person with a disability, whether an adult or child, who is resident in the building.

These features are:-

a room (other than a bathroom, kitchen or toilet) used mainly by the person with the disability. For example, you might get a reduction if you have an extension or extra room used for storing dialysis equipment, or a bedroom on the ground floor in a dwelling with two or more floors;
an additional bathroom or kitchen for the use of the person with the disability;
extra space inside the dwelling to allow for the use of wheelchair.

When considering whether a reduction should apply, councils have to decide whether the person with the disability would find it impossible or extremely difficult to live in the dwelling, or whether their health would suffer, or the disability become more severe, if the extra feature were not available.

To qualify for a reduction, the extra room need not be specially built, but can be an existing room used specifically for the person with the disability.

If your home is eligible, your bill will be reduced to that of a property in the valuation band immediately below the band shown on the valuation list. For example, if your home is in band D, your bill will be reduced to that for a band C dwelling. This will not, however, affect the value of your home or its banding on the valuation list. In this example, it would still be shown as band D on the valuation list. If your property is in Band A and the qualifying features are met, a reduction of 1/6th of the Band A charge will be applied.