Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Money off Council Tax for care leavers

If you're a care leaver under the age of 25 who is liable to pay Council Tax or living with someone who pays Council Tax, we may be able to reduce the Council Tax bill.

Will I qualify?

To qualify for a reduction you must be:

a care leaver under 25 years old
live in County Durham

The reduction will stop on your 25^th birthday or if our policy changes.

What will I pay?

If you are a care leaver and are the only person paying the Council Tax bill, you will not have to pay any Council Tax.

If you are a care leaver and live with someone else, the Council Tax bill will be reduced to 50% and you will not be named as a liable person on the bill.

If you qualify for a reduction, it will be automatically paid to the relevant Council Tax account.