Our Revenues and Benefits department has compiled a list of frequently asked questions for the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction Online Accounts.
Helpful tip: If your Council Tax reference number ends in an ‘X’ please ensure this is entered as a capital letter.
Council Tax
Online billing is a secure web portal similar to ‘online banking’ that allows Rother District Council customers to view their account information in real-time, from any location, on any device at your convenience. The information available includes current/previous year bills, current instalment plans, your next payment date and amount. You can use this service to sign up for paperless billing which means you will receive all future council tax bills electronically.
Any resident within the district who pays Council Tax to Rother District Council can sign up to see their account online and for paperless billing.
Rother District Council is committed to protecting your privacy online and takes every effort to ensure your personal details are kept safe, secure and used for specific lawful purposes. Data held in respect of your account/s is held in accordance with current Data Protection legislation in force.
Online billing is secure and requires you to register and carry out appropriate levels of authentication before any secure account data can be accessed. Although we take steps to ensure our websites and links are virus free, you are always advised to ensure that you have adequate anti-virus protection on your computer. You are also responsible for keeping your Username and Password confidential to prevent unauthorised viewing of your account. Please contact us as soon as possible if you suspect either of the above has been compromised.
Within the Revenues and Benefits service, under the Council Tax summary there is a link to sign up for paperless billing. You can also amend this at a later date.
You will need to add each separate reference number within the Revenues and Benefits Service.
If you have a credit on your Bill, please provide your Bank details and we can issue a refund to you. If you do not provide your bank details any remaining credits will be deducted from next year’s bill.
You can find out more about Council Tax Discounts on our Council Tax Discounts webpage.
Your account reference may show from an earlier date if you have lived at a previous address within Rother and have kept the same account number.
If there are insufficient funds in your bank account to pay your direct debit. These will show as a recall direct debit.
If your account is with enforcement, you will be sent correspondence separately.
In the Council Tax Summary this will show as Band U. Please ensure you contact us to make payments whilst your property is awaiting a banding.
If your Council Tax Band has changed it will show your current band in the Remaining balance breakdown and Council Tax Summary screen. Please look at your letters in the correspondence screen as these will show any band changes and bills relating to this.
Please look at correspondence for any new bills. These will show when your liability ceased.
Please request a PIN. You will then be sent a PIN to allow you to access your account.
If your balance is £0.00 no Direct Debit will be debited from your Bank account.
For Council Tax you will need to unsubscribe from paperless billing then re-subscribe with your new email address in the Summary page:
For awards you can click in the Benefits Summary to amend your email address
Details on how to report a change in your circumstances can be found at How do I report a change in my circumstances?
Yes all bills and notification letters are displayed as PDF, therefore, can be printed
Details on how to apply for Council Tax discounts can found at Council Tax forms
If 2 there are 2 people named on the bill, that have registered for an online account , but only one of these has requested e-billing then a paper bill will also be sent.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction awards
Your total income will be included within your Universal Credit award, this includes any other income that may have been deducted from the actual Universal Credit payment that you receive, such as Carers Allowance, Employment Support Allowance Contribution based, Statutory Maternity Pay, tariff income from capital, any private pension and earnings.
The Benefits summary tab will show you your next payment amount and the period your next payment covers. Clicking the payments tab will show you a list of where your previous Housing Benefit payments have been made to. Your next payment amount should be paid to this payee. If you have requested Housing Benefit to be paid to a different Payee this will not show until the payment has been made.
If you are working age then your self-employed income may be calculated differently. For Council Tax Reduction we use a minimum income floor. For further information please click here; https://www.rother.gov.uk/benefits-grants-and-funding/council-tax-reduction/
Your rent liability will show the weekly figure as a daily figure. This is because you are charged rent on a daily basis.
Please note your payment date will usually be paid the Monday following the Payment date showing in the Payments screen.
Please request a PIN. You will then be sent a PIN to allow you to access your account.
Landlord portal
This will be the Monday following the Payment date showing in the payments screen.