Q My father, aged 84, pays rent of £39 and council tax of £20. Is he paying too much as he only has a state pension of £74.55 a week, coal money of £3.72 a week, a miner's pension of £140.40 a month and £3,000 savings?

AIt is not clear how regularly he has to pay, but rebates would reduce his basic rent to the equivalent of about £12 and his council tax to about £3.68 every week of the year.

QMy yearly state pension is £4,048 and my private pension £2,857 annually. My two sons each pay me £25 a month by direct debit. My council tax is £55 a month. Is there any chance of reducing this?

AYes, by about £2.44 through a rebate. As the payments from your sons total less than £20 a week they will be ignored.

QDo my husband and I qualify for a rebate on our council tax of £840 a year? His state pension is £131.13 a week and mine is £44.76. Our savings are just over £7,000.

AYes. A rebate of about £8 a week.

QI am 72, living alone and my council tax is £460 a year. My state pension is £321 every four weeks and I also have a private pension of £156 a month and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for mobility. Can I get a rebate?

AYes. DLA is not counted so you are due £4 a week.

QWe are both 83. Our weekly state pensions total £137.53, I have a war pension of £23.96 and industrial injuries payment of £22.58 a week, and my wife has a monthly private pension of £93.43 and Attendance Allowance of £55.30. Should we be paying council tax of £714.57 a year? We have savings of £4,000.

AAttendance Allowance is ignored and so are your savings. Most councils ignore war pensions too so if yours is one of them, you are due a rebate of £5.50 a week.

QI am on Incapacity Benefit and Income Support. I have just become eligible for a works pension of £80.41 monthly. How will this affect my income support?

AYou do not say how much Income Support you receive, but it will reduce by the amount of your pension so you will probably lose it. If so, you will have to start paying some rent and council tax as well.