The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2021

Notional earned income

55.—(1) Where a relevant authority is of the opinion that an applicant has deprived themselves of earned income, or arranged for them to be so deprived, for the purpose of securing entitlement to council tax reduction or increasing the amount of that reduction, that income is to be treated as earned income of the applicant.

(2) Such a purpose is to be treated as existing if, in fact, entitlement to an increased amount of council tax reduction did result and, in the opinion of the relevant authority, this was a foreseeable and intended consequence of the deprivation.

(3) Where an applicant with an award of universal credit was treated as—

(a) possessing earned income under regulation 60(1) of the 2013 Regulations, or

(b) having received income under regulation 60(3) of the 2013 Regulations,

that income is to be treated as earned income under paragraph (1).

(4) For the avoidance of doubt, for the purpose of this regulation, if paragraphs (1) and (3) apply in respect of the same income, that income is to be counted as unearned income only once.

(5) If an applicant provides services for another person and—

(a) the other person makes no payment for those services or pays less than would be paid for comparable services in the same location, and

(b) the means of the other person were sufficient to pay for, or pay more for, those services,

the applicant is to be treated as having received the remuneration that would be reasonable for the provision of those services.

(6) Paragraph (5) does not apply where—

(a) the applicant is engaged to provide the services by a charitable or voluntary organisation and the relevant authority is satisfied that it is reasonable to provide the services free of charge or at less than the rate that would be paid for comparable services in the same location,

(b) the applicant is participating as a service user (see regulation 46(2)), or

(c) the services are provided under or in connection with the applicant’s participation in an employment or training programme approved by the Secretary of State or the Scottish Ministers.