Energy Bills Rebate

The Council Tax Energy Rebate formed part of a package of measures announced by the Government to support to help households with rising energy bills.

The Council Tax rebate scheme which closed on 30 September 2022 provided a mandatory one-off payment of £150 to households living in Council Tax bands A – D.  The Council Tax rebate does not have to be paid back.

The Council Tax Energy Rebate used Council Tax information held by local councils as at 1 April 2022 to identify eligible households and all identified eligible households have now been paid either by crediting their bank account, from online applications made, by Post Office Payout voucher or by crediting the payment against their Council Tax bill.

Payments from uncashed Post Office vouchers have now been credited as payments against Council Tax accounts and revised Council Tax bills will be issued in the week commencing 10 October 2022.  Please note that the rebate will not show as a separate entry on the revised bill as it is included in the amount of payments made.

If you would prefer to have the rebate refunded to a bank account, you may request a refund using our online refund form Please note that refunds may take in excess of 14 days in busy periods.

Council Tax Rebate Eligibility

Households are eligible for the mandatory £150 rebate where, on 1 April 2022, they are liable for Council Tax on a property which is in Council Tax bands A-D and which they live in as their main home (Second homes and unoccupied homes are excluded). This includes those who receive Local Council Tax Support, even if their Council Tax bill for the year is less than £150 or £0.

Where the occupants of a property in bands A - D are exempt from Council Tax on 1 April 2022, they will also be eligible if the property falls in one of the following classes of exemption:

• Class N (students – other than HMOs for Council Tax purposes),
• Class S (under 18s),
• Class U (people with a severe mental impairment),
• Class W (annexes occupied by a dependent relative)

Only one £150 payment will be made per household, regardless of the number of occupants or liable Council Tax payers.

Where the council’s records relating to the liable taxpayer(s) or residents’ circumstances in respect of 1 April 2022 are retrospectively updated, the council will take reasonable steps to pay or clawback payments.

Where the property band recorded on a valuation list is amended retrospectively to 1 April 2022, for example as a result of a successful appeal made to the Valuation Office Agency (‘VOA’) that concluded after 1 April 2022, the council will not be required to pay or clawback payments. The exception is where a property is a new build and awaiting an official banding from the VOA. In these cases, eligibility will be determined based on the official band subsequently allocated by the VOA, where it has an effective date before or on 1 April 2022.

How will the Council Tax Rebate be paid?

The online form has now closed.

For those customers who are yet to receive their energy rebate payment, voucher letters have been issued on the council’s behalf by the Post Office. The vouchers can be cashed at any UK Post Office. The voucher letter will tell you what you need to do to cash your voucher.

We have worked with the Post Office to extend the deadline and they will now ignore the date on the letter and continue to cash the vouchers until the close of their business day on 21 September 2022. If you have not already cashed your voucher, please do so urgently. 

Anyone who has not cashed their Post Office Payout voucher by this date will have their rebate credited to their Council Tax account before the scheme closes completely on Friday 30 September 2022 to avoid them missing out.

Discretionary Fund

Mansfield has received £229,800 in discretionary funding. The council was required to determine locally how best to make use of this funding and devised the eligibility criteria for the Discretionary Fund. View the policy (opens in new window).

There will be no need for eligible customers to apply, those who we have identified as eligible have been issued their payment by Post Office Payout voucher or will have had the rebate credited to their Council Tax account.  

No further discretionary funding will be available once the allocation is spent and no payments can be made from the discretionary fund after 30 November 2022.

Updates

Please refrain from contacting us if at all possible whilst we focus on administering the scheme and supporting vulnerable customers. Keep up to date by checking this webpage, signing up for council news and events (opens in new window) and follow us on Facebook (opens in new window) and Twitter (opens in new window).

Further information

If you still have unanswered questions about the Council Tax Energy Rebate, please see the Government's factsheet (opens in new window) for answers to the most frequently asked questions about the scheme.

Other support available

The Government also announced a £200 discount on energy bills this autumn for domestic electricity customers which has to be repaid automatically over the next 5 years. For further information about the scheme, please visit the Governments website (opens in new window).