Council Tax rebate warning as thousands of households told to cash £150 voucher before deadline

THOUSANDS of households have been told to cash in their £150 council tax voucher or risk missing the deadline.

Residents in Leicester have been urged to cash in their Council Tax rebate vouchers to help combat the cost of living crisis.

In February, the government announced it would be offering a council tax rebate to combat rising energy bills.

You are entitled to the one-off £150 cash payment - which does not need to be paid back - if your property falls within the council tax band of A to D.

The government set a deadline of September 30 for all payments to be made, and payments started back in April.

And households in Leicester now have three months to cash the vouchers at a post office otherwise they will be automatically paid in as a credit in individual Council Tax accounts.

The Government has said it would not allow the money to be used to credit Council Tax, but Leicester Council said it would have to do so if the vouchers were not claimed.

To date, details of 41,000 households have been given to the post office so that vouchers can be issued, reports

Vouchers began to be issued in May 2022, starting with "accounts that have been registered for Council Tax for the longest".

The council website states: "We have now have started to issue the vouchers. You have three months to take the voucher to a post office.

"If you don’t claim the cash from the post office within three months, we will credit £150 to your Council Tax account instead. You do not need to tell us.

"Note that the Government does not allow the council to credit your Council Tax account in the first instance. This is why we are sending the post office vouchers."

"If you pay less than £150 Council Tax, or you receive single person discount, or do not pay because you receive Council Tax support, you will still be entitled to the payment.

"The payment will not be made for empty or second homes, or to non-resident landlords."

Local councils are in charge of dishing out the help to households - but the exact date you'll see it land in your account will vary.

If you haven't been paid your rebate, how to find out when you are due yours will depend on your local authority.

You can check your  and social media pages for the latest updates on when you will get the cash.

If you don't know which council you fall under, or which council is allocating the council tax, it will usually be your district council.

Additional help is being offered to people struggling to pay their food, energy and other essential bills.

The Household Support Fund was launched in October last year to help Brits pay their way through winter amid a cost of living crisis.

And district councils recently opened up the voucher scheme to support households in need of assistance who might need it more than once.