Hello all. After watching the Martin Lewis TV programme, he suggested people classed as severely mentally impaired could be due a reduction or disregard for their council tax.
Well, what is stroke if not a severe mental impairment ? When I phoned the council helpline, they said I didnt qualify as I didnt have dementia. I asked them to send me an application form and wasnt going to discuss my personal situation with someone in a call centre who was just reading from her screen and has no idea of stroke.
The form arrived and basically required my GP to determine if I was severely mentally impaired. My doctor agreed as it has affected me in many invisible ways, for instance, no longer capable of working, physical restriction and disability, and constant fatigue and pain and confusion. People only see the physical problems, but we all know that the physical problems are not physical, but a result of brain damage and I would class this as severe mental impairment.
Anyway, if you can get your GP to agree to this fact, then you could be be disregarded for council tax and I have just received a nearly £300 refund. I live with my son, so he still has to be regarded, but with the 2 of us here, we now get a 25% discount as he is classed as a single occupier.
I hope this might be of interest to some of you and you can claim and make a saving. Every little helps.
I do belive a massive amount of S/S read on this site , but do not necessarily join in . However like myself find it very comforting. Good 1.5 years cerebellar stroke, no real improvement. I would like to thank huntspete for his posting ref disregarded for council tax, I too applied, it has taken 2 months & have been granted this . Financialy this will be a great help & hope to put towards EASY ACCESS SHOWER , any advise or experiences on this , would be much appreciated. Thanks David.
David, Things differ from area to area, but before I came home I had a home visit withy my occupational therapist to see what adjustments needed to be made in order to help me cope. I already had a shower, but Age Uk put in a grab rail and a seat. This was done free of charge by the NHS.
Since then we have paid to have the shower base lowered to make getting in and out easier. Support varies from area to area, but I cannot fault the support I had in Worcestershire.
That is excellent David, Im so pleased that you applied and were granted the disregard for Council Tax. I have just had my statement for 2021/22 and it has saved me £441 for next year. I hope the 'easy access' shower makes life a little easier for you.
If you dont currently receive the disregard, why not give it a go and dont take 'no' as answer without stating your case/reason.
Stroke is a brain injury which in itself causes mental impairment, I guess it comes down to where the line is drawn for classing it as 'severe'.
I had a cerebellar stroke in 2008 or 2009 when I was 25 or 26. This also grew between 2009 and 2017, and a right frontal lobe stroke occurred in 2017. Both of these were missed and only diagnosed last year.indness the council then would only back date until 2018 because of a 2 week gap from my ESA to UC this is because when I was moved over the job centre did me wrong and said I couldn’t claim for the first 2 weeks as it’s a new benefit I also had the ESA component removed and had to go through medical etc again only discovered this was wrong yesterday they also said I had to pay my rent out of the advance I got given also wrong. prior to this I managed to get the doctor to also back date the backdate certificate to my first stroke which was the cerebellar one but also educate the doctor after I did a lot of research because of being heavily medicated for normal depression anxiety and mood swings over the years which did nothing but also following the death of my mother in 2023 and then my sister last year both occasions I’ve not been able to grieve or know what to feel I have no feelings around it really basically I came across a condition called cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome and although I may not suffer as bad as some alot of things slotted into place and explained so much but with this syndrome there isn’t much research as the cerebellar stroke is only present in 4 % of stroke victims the research there is links this to things like balance mood swings basically the same as the right frontal lobe and more but not only that that bounce off of eachother also not a lot of doctors are aware of this condition so after getting it back dated even further I then handed it in to the council and asked them to back date to when I had the first stroke I also supplied medical records proof of benefits etc but over the years with my mental health stroke etc I haven’t been great with money and paying bills so I had attachment of benefits since 2019 until last year paying those c tax arrears I also paid bayliffs the same time and although the total adds up to a fair amount the council tried getting out of back dating to when it’s supposed to run from first they wouldn’t go back further than 2018 and then the further back date they are saying I won’t financially gain by going back further than 2015 but within this time frame they tried swallowing the money up with court cost and bayliffs charges they then nullified the more recent ones but then tried off setting this to my rent account saying I was in arrears yes I was benefits pay in arrears but they did this without telling me so it was refunded before that they also tried giving a small refund of around 300 I sent all my pay statements from UC proving it’s around 3k they owe. They are now trying to back date to 2015 give another small payment of 300 ISH again when it’s still alot they owe there trying to swallow it up again with more cost and penalties saying it can’t be refunded and trying to use the 6 year limitation statue which doesn’t apply to smi Backdates I also ask for a manual audit and detailed breakdown they ignored me I got citizens advice involved they also said to them they couldn’t give past breakdown so now I’ve had to request a cash in Vs cash refund or cash out audit to be done because all bills and charges in that exemption period are now void they are supposed to give money paid back and can’t use it on old debt or cost because it is from within the exemption period and from your benefit daily living allowance the reason for the whole essay is so no one gets taken for a ride and although I am still fighting this if you have made payments add them up yourself keep proof and fight as they have the power to void the charges and costs but also recall the bayliff charges aswell they let the computer system work everything out and it’s flawed using your money to 0 the account they will also try getting out of back dating it because if like me you were on ESA I got all my c tax paid by dwp and they have to then return this money and don’t like the paperwork. But also if anyone has any advice please share sorry for the long essay but it is what it is
Hello @Elfbuzz - Nice to meet you and thank you posting this article.
I think it is disgraceful how people are treated or mistreated when it comes to getting the benefits, help and support they are entitled to. I am sorry you have not had a chance to grieve for the loss of your mother and sister and hope you will be able to do so soon. You have been through so much and for so long and it’s credit to you that you have stayed strong to fight your corner especially with all the pushbacks. So well done for that and stay strong
What you are describing here is very complex and I don’t have any help or advice to offer as when I am in this situation, I find it easier to give in, though I have stood my ground on one or two occasions when I knew or believed I had a watertight case. I hope that others reading this will be able to offer some guidance on this.
I would like to highlight a couple of things from your post which I can totally relate to and which I believe is what I call the modern curse ("the computer says “no”! syndrome)
It is a disgrace this happens i.e. faulty software resets balances because the system has been poorly designed, not properly tested and no one is auditing the accounts. I have had issues with my council tax whereby they lose payments I have made or incorrectly record the amounts and all this happens because I choose not to pay by direct debit. I don’t trust direct debit for the reasons you mention i.e. computer resets to zero!! At least this way I have a little control of how much money I can be “diddled” out of.
No, when it comes to getting your money back there’s all sorts of hurdles you are forced to jump over and this is even though they are the ones who caused the problems.
I am so sorry I cannot offer you anything else and I wish you all the best.
Aye, Schmahmann’s syndrome which is a group of symptoms after cerebellar stroke that cause all kinds of cognitive problems, especially regulating emotions. I have written about it here on the forum. Schmahmann describes it as dysmetria of thought which translates to not being able to measure thought. This is why the syndrome affects attention, emotion, language, decision making and prediction. The latter is, I think is at the heart of it all because of prediction error signalling mismatch. The brethren of Schmahmann’s syndrome are neurodiverse conditions like ADHD, schizophrenia, autism, Down syndrome, BPD, OCD, and psychopathy. In fact, out of all these conditions, autism has the strongest link to the cerebellum. I acquired BPD after cerebellar stroke, fortunately, it is a disorder that can be treated to a point where you don’t have it anymore and can’t be classed as having BPD.
and stay strong 
