Overview

• HM Treasury confirmed it has no plans to mandate a blanket council tax discount for state pensioners after a petition closed with 11,201 signatures.
• The petition, launched by David Papworth, argued current council tax rates force some pensioners to spend a significant share of their income on local levies.
• Councils are required to run centrally prescribed, means-tested support schemes that ensured 1.4 million pensioner households paid no council tax as of March 2025.
• Government spending on state pensions and pensioner benefits is set to exceed £174 billion in 2025/26 under the triple-lock commitment.
• Ministers emphasized that council tax revenues underpin more than 800 local services and that existing discounts and exemptions address personal circumstances.