The Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements and Default Scheme) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Council Tax Reduction Schemes and Prescribed Requirements (Wales) Regulations 2013 (“the Prescribed Requirements Regulations”) and the Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Default Scheme) (Wales) Regulations 2013 (“the Default Scheme Regulations”) made under section 13A(4) and (5) of, and Schedule 1B to, the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”).

The Prescribed Requirements Regulations require each billing authority in Wales to make a scheme specifying the reductions that are to apply to amounts of council tax payable by persons, or classes of persons, whom the authority considers are in financial need. The Prescribed Requirements Regulations also set out the matters that must be included in such a scheme.

The Default Scheme Regulations set out a scheme that will take effect, in respect of dwellings situated in the area of a billing authority, if that authority fails to make its own scheme.

Regulation 3 inserts new definitions into the Prescribed Requirements Regulations as a consequence of other amendments made by these Regulations. Regulation 14 makes the same amendments to the Default Scheme Regulations.

Regulations 7(c) to (e), 9, 10(c) to (e), and 12 amend provisions of the Prescribed Requirements Regulations regarding which payments are to be disregarded for the purposes of calculating entitlement to a reduction in relation to new and existing disregards. The new disregards cover payments pursuant to the Ministry of Defence Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Financial Recognition Scheme and payments made under miscarriage of justice schemes that have effect under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33). At the time of making these Regulations there are three such miscarriage of justice schemes (the Miscarriages of Justice Application Service in England and Wales and equivalent schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland). The new disregards also cover extra-statutory payments made for similar purposes. Further amendments are made to existing provisions to ensure that particular forms of payments are disregarded in relation to non-dependant deductions and an applicant’s capital for the purposes of calculating entitlement to a reduction. The same amendments are made to the Default Scheme Regulations by regulations 18(c) to (e), 27 and 28(a) to (c).

Regulation 4 amends the definitions in the Prescribed Requirements Regulations of “pensioner” and a “person who is not a pensioner” to disregard any award of Universal Credit to which regulation 60A of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014 applies. The same amendment is made to the Default Scheme by regulation 15.

Regulation 6(1)(a) amends regulation 28 of the Prescribed Requirements Regulations to ensure that, where an individual is already receiving universal credit, there is no need to consider whether or not they are habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland, when deciding whether they are a person from abroad for the purposes of a council tax reduction. Any determination as to whether they are habitually resident (or subject to one of the other exceptions from the need to consider whether they are habitually resident) will already have been made when the claim for universal credit was allowed. The same amendment is made to the Default Scheme Regulations by regulation 17(1)(a).

Regulation 6(1)(b) and (c) and (2) also amends regulation 28 of the Prescribed Requirements Regulations to insert three new categories into the list of persons who are not to be treated as not being resident in Great Britain and who are therefore to be included in a council tax reduction scheme.

The first new category provides that a person who was residing in Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip or East Jerusalem immediately before 23 June 2025, and who left those places as a consequence of the escalation in violence between Israel and Iran which commenced in June 2025, is not to be treated as not being in Great Britain. The second new category of exempt person is those who have leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom granted in accordance with immigration rules made under section 3 of the Immigration Act1971 (c.77), a right of abode in the United Kingdom within the meaning given in section 2 of that Act, or do not require leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom in accordance with section 3ZA of that Act, and where the person was residing in a country or territory when His Majesty’s Government provided public information to advise British nationals to leave a country or territory or has arranged the evacuation of British nationals from that country or territory. The third new category of exempt person is persons who are granted leave under immigration provisions which have been sanctioned by His Majesty’s Government as safe and legal humanitarian immigration routes. The same amendments are made to paragraph 19(5) of the Default Scheme Regulations by regulation 17(1)(b) and (c) and (2).

The amendments made to the Prescribed Requirements Regulations by regulations 7(a) and (b), 8, 10(a) and (b) and 11 uprate certain figures used to calculate whether a person is entitled to a reduction, and if so, the amount of that reduction. The uprated figures apply to non-dependant deductions (adjustments made to the maximum amount of a reduction that a person can receive taking into account adults living in the dwelling who are not the applicant’s dependants) and the applicable amount (the amount against which an applicant’s income is compared to determine the reduction, if any, which the applicant may be entitled to receive). A number of other figures are also uprated to reflect changes to various other entitlements. The same amendments are made to the Default Scheme Regulations by regulations 18(a) and (b), 25 and 26.

Regulations 5, 7(f) to (i), and 10(f) to (h) make various amendments to the Prescribed Requirements Regulations in consequence of the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 (c. 20), which makes provision for entitlements, leave and pay for employees with responsibility for children receiving neonatal care. The same amendments are made to the Default Scheme Regulations by regulations 16 and 19 to 24.

Regulation 28(d) corrects a minor typographical error in the English language text of the Default Scheme Regulations.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Local Government Finance Reform Division, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ and is published on www.gov.wales.