Understanding the impact of Council Tax Interventions in Wales: standardisation of the Severe Mental Impairment exemption

The research was carried out in 2022 and consisted of desk-based research, quantitative statistical analysis and interviews with key stakeholders.

Main findings

• There appeared to be awareness across councils, and third party organisations that support for people with SMI, around the introduction of standardisation of the SMI Council Tax exemption intervention and the intervention was generally welcomed by councils and organisations that support residents with SMI.
• The majority of councils surveyed felt that the introduction of a standard approach to SMI Council Tax exemptions had been effective; however, there was variation in the level of implementation measures introduced by councils.
• Most councils indicated that they used the standard application form. The majority of council respondents were not aware of the introduction of any additional measures such as publicity, training or website accessibility within their council.
• Despite variation between councils in the implementation of the intervention measures, there had been an increase in the number of SMI Council Tax exemptions across Wales since the introduction of standardisation of the SMI exemption in 2019. This increase was evident across all councils.
• An analysis of publicly available statistics on disability benefits and associated disabling conditions indicated that prior to 2019, the population potentially eligible for an SMI Council tax exemption rose faster than the number of SMI exemptions awarded across Wales.
• The application of SMI Council Tax exemptions was relatively uniform across Welsh councils in relation to the potentially eligible population of that council. No council has significantly fewer exemptions than expected.