Full time students

Full time students are not liable to pay Council Tax. A household where all members are full time students are not be liable to pay Council Tax.

If these are your circumstances and you receive a bill from us, you can apply for a student exemption.

If you live in a hall of residence your Council Tax exemption should already be in place and you should not need to apply for an exemption.

Criteria.

For the purposes of Council Tax, a full time student meets the following criteria:

An individual who is over 18 and attending college, university or equivalent.
Attending a course for a minimum of 24 weeks per year.
Studying for a minimum of 21 hours a week.
Aged 18 or 19 attending a non-advanced course like A-Levels for at least 3 months requiring at least 12 hours of study per week.
The student is a resident in the UK.

The college or university you attend will need to be based in the UK or the EU.

This applies to courses attended via distance learning as long as all the other student criteria above are met.

The level of exemption depends on who else lives with you while you are studying your course.

If everyone in a household is a student.

If all members of a household are students the property will be exempt from Council Tax. You will not need to pay Council Tax but all members of the household will need to apply for the exemption.

If you live in a student halls of residence you will be exempt from paying Council Tax. Your place of study should already have an exemption in place.

I'm a student and live with 2 or more adults.

If you live at home with 2 or more adults that are not students you will not qualify for an exemption. The other adults in the household will be liable to pay the council tax bill.

I'm a student and live with one other adult.

If you are a full time student and live with one other adult this adult would be fully liable to pay the council tax but would be eligible for a 25% discount. A household where this applies would need to provide a student certificate as evidence of the place you are studying and the duration of the course to qualify for this discount.

Student Certificates are available from the university or college admissions office.

How to apply.

Online Council Tax account - if you have an account you can apply for a student discount or exemption by selecting "Apply for a Student Exemption" in the Quick Links section of your account summary page.

You will be able to complete the application and upload a student certificate from the college or university directly into your account to be processed.

Download our Student Exemption application form. Please return the completed form to our email address along with a student certificate.

What happens next?

Once we have received your application we will send you a new e-bill in your online Council Tax account showing the discount has been applied to your account and how much you need to pay.

If you have not yet signed up for e-billing we will send your revised bill to you by post.