Millions of households in England will get £150 off their council tax bills this month, following an announcement from Chancellor Rishi Sunak in February.
Everyone who lives in council tax bands A-D will see a discount automatically applied to their bill. Around 20 million households in council tax bands A to D - including 95% of rented properties - will receive a £3bn council tax rebate, which does not have to be repaid.
Local authorities will deliver the rebate, with eligibility determined on your situation on April 1 2022. You can check which council tax band your home is here.
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People living in homes in council tax bands A to D in England will be eligible for the £150 payment. It must be your sole or main home to qualify, so second homes and empty properties are not eligible.
But not everybody who is eligible will see the money land in their bank account. This is because of a number of loopholes, including your job, and the type of bank account you have, according to Somerset Live.
You need to be signed up to direct debit
Payments will be made automatically to people who pay their council tax by direct debit, meaning local authorities already have their bank details. Councils have been told to contact people who do not pay their bills this way to make sure they don't miss out.
But fears have been raised that this could mean delays to payments for people not on direct debit schemes. The Levelling Up Committee has been pressing ministers for estimates of how many households are in this category.
The Government has ordered local authorities to ensure people get their rebate by September 30 2022 - months after it was initially supposed to be received.
You should have a current account
Another concern about the council tax rebate is those who don't have a current account, which has been estimated to be around 400,000. The Government states: "where the recipient has no bank account, for example Post Office Payout vouchers".
But the committee said it wasn't clear how this would work and asked whether councils could hand out cash payments.
Pensioners could miss out for living in 'wrong kind of homes'
Age UK has warned that millions of older people will miss out as they live in the "wrong kind of homes" - despite struggling with financial hardship. The charity estimates there are 4.3m households in England that will not be eligible for the Council Tax rebate because they live in properties with Council Tax band E to H, among whom half (2.1m) include at least one person aged over 60.
Older people often live in homes that are difficult and expensive to heat, leaving them at greater risk of developing health complications because of the cold.
Payment could go to landlords rather than tenants
MPs are concerned that landlords could receive the payments and not pass them onto their tenants. People who pay rent to their landlord, which includes their bills could be affected in this case.
But Mr Betts asked: "What would happen if a landlord's name was on the direct debit and was also the 'liable person' but where a tenant paid a rent which was deemed to include council tax?" The Tories have been told to "get a grip" of a council tax rebate offered to struggling households as MPs warned people could miss out.
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