Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook 2020/21Part 4: Other mattersChapter 20: Council tax 2. Who pays council tax
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2. Who pays council tax
If you are a student, there are two main ways in which you are exempt from paying council tax.
    •The accommodation you live in may be exempt (see here).
    •You may not be liable to pay any council tax (see here).
If neither of these applies, you may be able to reduce your council tax bill.
    •You may be able to get a discount (see here).
    •You may be able to get council tax reduction or second adult rebate (see here–here).
Who counts as a student
If you are aged under 20, whether you count as a student for council tax purposes depends on whether you are on a further or higher education course. For older students, one rule applies whatever level of course you do. If you are an ‘articulating’ student of any age, you may count as a student between courses (see below).
Under 20 in further education
You are regarded as a ‘student’ for council tax purposes if you are aged under 20 and on a further education (FE) course of more than 12 hours a week, which lasts more than three months.1Art 6(1)(b) and Sch 1 para 1(a) CT(D)(S)CAO
An FE course is one below the level of a degree, Higher National Certificate (HNC), Higher National Diploma (HND) or Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) level 4. It includes National Qualifications to Advanced Higher level, A levels and National Certificates. It does not include:
    •further training of teachers or youth or community workers;2Sch 1 para 2 CT(D)(S)CAO
    •evening classes;3Sch 1 para 1(d) CT(D)(S)CAO
    •correspondence courses;4Sch 1 para 1(c) CT(D)(S)CAO
    •courses attended if you are a trainee on a youth training course or an apprentice.5Art 6(3)(c) CT(D)(S)CAO
The hours that count are those required by the course rather than those you actually do, if they are different.
To work out your hours, average out over term times the hours required under the course for tuition, supervised study, exams, and supervised exercise, experiment, project and practical work.6Art 2, definitions of ‘relevant number of hours’ and ‘relevant activities’, CT(D)(S)CAO You can add together hours spent on more than one course if these are all at the same college.7Art 6(3)(a) CT(D)(S)CAO
You are regarded as a student for each day from the day you start the course until the day you complete it, abandon it or are dismissed from it.8Art 2, definition of ‘the relevant period’, CT(D)(S)CAO So you count as a student during term times, during short vacations at Christmas and Easter and during the summer if your course continues after the summer. If your course ends in the summer and you begin a different one in the autumn, you do not count as a student in the summer between courses.9Art 6(3)(b) CT(D)(S)CAO However, you might be able to get a discount (see here).
Example
Drew is 18 and taking three Highers at college. Including his classes, exams and supervised study, his course hours are 18 a week. He is a student for council tax purposes.
 
1     Art 6(1)(b) and Sch 1 para 1(a) CT(D)(S)CAO »
2     Sch 1 para 2 CT(D)(S)CAO »
3     Sch 1 para 1(d) CT(D)(S)CAO »
4     Sch 1 para 1(c) CT(D)(S)CAO »
5     Art 6(3)(c) CT(D)(S)CAO »
6     Art 2, definitions of ‘relevant number of hours’ and ‘relevant activities’, CT(D)(S)CAO »
7     Art 6(3)(a) CT(D)(S)CAO »
8     Art 2, definition of ‘the relevant period’, CT(D)(S)CAO »
9     Art 6(3)(b) CT(D)(S)CAO »
Under 20 in higher education
The rules are the same as those for people aged 20 or over (see below).
20 or over in further or higher education
If you are aged 20 or over, you are regarded as a ‘student’ for council tax purposes if the course requires you to undertake periods of study, tuition or work experience of at least 24 weeks each academic year, for an average of at least 21 hours a week.1Art 6(4)(c) CT(D)(S)CAO This includes distance learning.
To count as a student, you must be enrolled on a course with an educational institution. You are a student from the day you begin the course until the day you complete it, abandon it or are no longer permitted by the educational institution to attend.2Arts 2, definition of ‘the relevant period’, and 6(4)(e) CT(D)(S)CAO So if you take time out and are not enrolled on the course during this period, you do not count as a student for council tax purposes and may become liable for council tax. If this is the case, check whether you can get council tax reduction (see here). On the other hand, if you take time out but are still enrolled on the course, you continue to count as a student, provided you have not abandoned it completely and the institution has not said you can no longer attend the course. Because the law says you are not a student if you are ‘no longer permitted by the institution to attend’, this suggests that your dismissal from the course must be final. So you could argue that if you are temporarily suspended from the course but still registered, you still count as a student.
Your college or university determines the number of hours. You may need evidence from it to prove to the local authority that you count as a student. Colleges and universities are required to provide you with a certificate if you ask for one while you are a student or up to a year after you leave the course.3Sch 1 para 5 LGFA 1992 After that, they may still give you a certificate, but they are not legally required to do so. The certificate must contain:4Art 9 CT(D)(S)CAO
    •the name and address of the institution;
    •your full name;
    •your term-time address and home address (if known by the institution);
    •a statement that you are (or were) a student – ie, that you are enrolled on a course requiring attendance of at least 24 weeks a year and study of at least 21 hours a week; and
    •the date you became a student and the date your course ends.
 
1     Art 6(4)(c) CT(D)(S)CAO »
2     Arts 2, definition of ‘the relevant period’, and 6(4)(e) CT(D)(S)CAO »
3     Sch 1 para 5 LGFA 1992 »
4     Art 9 CT(D)(S)CAO »
Articulating or direct entry students
You count as a student if you have finished an HNC or HND course and have an offer of a place directly into the second or third year of a degree course.1Art 6(1)(d) and (e) CT(D)(S)CAO To qualify, if you have completed a full-time HNC course in the last six months, you must have an offer of a place in the second year of a full-time degree course starting within this period. The same applies if you have completed a full-time HND course in the last six months, except that the offer must be of a place in the third year of a full-time degree course. See above for the definition of ‘full-time course’.
If you meet these rules but do not start the degree course, you do not count as a student for the period between the courses.
 
1     Art 6(1)(d) and (e) CT(D)(S)CAO »
Exempt dwellings
A dwelling is exempt from council tax if all the people who occupy it are in any of the following categories:1Sch 1 para 10 The Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997, No.728
    •a student, or her/his overseas partner if s/he entered the UK on a visa that prohibits her/him from working or claiming benefits. If the partner has the right to work but not to claim benefits, arguably s/he should come under this exemption; or
    •a care leaver aged 18–25; or
    •someone under age 18; or
    •someone under age 20 who left further education at school or college after 30 April – this only applies between 1 May and 31 October of the year s/he left school or college; or
    •someone who is ‘severely mentally impaired’.
Halls of residence are also exempt dwellings. This applies if the hall of residence is mainly for students and is owned and managed by an educational institution, or where there is an agreement that the educational institution can nominate the majority of those who can stay in the accommodation.2Sch 1 para 16 The Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997, No.728
An unoccupied dwelling is exempt for up to four months if it is the main residence of a student (and not of anyone else who is not a student) and it was last occupied by one or more students. This allows an exemption to continue – eg, through the summer vacation. If you are liable for council tax (and anyone who is jointly liable with you is also a student) and the dwelling is no one’s main residence, the dwelling is exempt without a time limit.
If the dwelling is exempt, there is no council tax or council water charge to pay.3Sch 11 para 7(11) LGFA 1992
There are a number of other exemptions that are not specifically aimed at students. For details, see CPAG’s Council Tax Handbook.
 
1     Sch 1 para 10 The Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997, No.728 »
2     Sch 1 para 16 The Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997, No.728 »
3     Sch 11 para 7(11) LGFA 1992 »
Who is liable for council tax
Very few students are liable to pay council tax. Normally, either the dwelling is exempt because everyone who lives there is a student, or the non-students in the household are solely liable for the council tax.
If the dwelling is not exempt from council tax, at least one person is liable for the bill. There is a hierarchy to determine liability – the first person in the hierarchy is the one who is liable to pay. If there are two or more people at the same level, they are usually jointly liable, but there is an exception for students.
Council tax liability hierarchy
Resident owner
Resident tenant
Resident statutory, statutory assured or secure tenant
Resident sub-tenant
Other resident
Non-resident owner unless there is a non-resident tenant or a non-resident sub-tenant, either of whom have a lease of six months or more
If students share accommodation with non-students who are at the same level in the hierarchy, the non-students are liable but the students are not.1s75(4) LGFA 1992, as amended by s4 Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Act 2001
Examples
Three students, Rahul, Will and Jameel, share a flat as joint tenants. While they are all students, the flat is exempt and there is no council tax to pay. Will drops out of his course. The flat is no longer exempt. Will is solely liable for the whole council tax bill (although there is a discount). Rahul and Jameel are not liable for any council tax. Will should apply for a council tax reduction if his income is low.
 
Christine is studying full time and owns the flat she lives in. She rents a room to a friend who is not a student. Christine is liable for the council tax. She gets a 25 per cent discount on the bill. Her friend is not liable for any council tax.
 
Raj is studying full time and owns the flat he lives in. He rents a room to a friend who is also a student. Raj is liable for the council tax, but as both of them are students, the flat is exempt and the bill is, therefore, nil.
 
1     s75(4) LGFA 1992, as amended by s4 Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Act 2001 »
Couples
Normally, couples who live together are jointly liable for the council tax. Students, however, are exempt from this rule. If you are a student and have a non-student partner who is liable for council tax, you are not jointly liable with her/him.1s77 LGFA 1992, as amended by s4 Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Act 2001
 
1     s77 LGFA 1992, as amended by s4 Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Act 2001 »
Discounts
The full council tax bill assumes that there are two adults living in the dwelling. You get a discount of 25 per cent if there is only one person living there. Some people are disregarded when counting how many live in the dwelling. They are described as ‘invisible’ or as having a ‘status discount’. If someone is disregarded in this way and there is no one, or only one adult counted as, living in the property, you get a discount of 50 per cent or 25 per cent. The discount is on the water charge, as well as the council tax charge.1Sch 11 para 11 LGFA 1992
The following people are disregarded in this way:2CT(D)(S)CAO; The Council Tax (Discounts) (Scotland) Regulations 1992, No.1409
    •anyone under 18 years old;
    •anyone aged 18 or 19 for whom child benefit is payable;
    •students;
    •a student’s partner from overseas if s/he entered the UK on a visa that prohibits her/him from working or claiming benefits;
    •someone under age 20 who was on a non-advanced course of education and who left school or college after 1 May – the status discount lasts from 1 May until 31 October;
    •student nurses – ie, those studying for registration;
    •apprentices training for an SVQ and on low pay;
    •a care leaver aged between 18 and 25, who was looked after on or after her/his 16th birthday and is no longer looked after;
    •others – eg, carers, hospital patients and trainees. See CPAG’s Council Tax Handbook for details.
 
1     Sch 11 para 11 LGFA 1992 »
2     CT(D)(S)CAO; The Council Tax (Discounts) (Scotland) Regulations 1992, No.1409 »
Disability reduction
The council tax bill is reduced to the valuation band below your own band if you, or anyone else (adult or child) who is resident in the dwelling, are substantially and permanently disabled and you use a wheelchair indoors or need an extra room.1Council Tax (Reductions for Disabilities) (Scotland) Regulations 1992 No. 1335 For those in band A properties, a proportional reduction is made.
 
1     Council Tax (Reductions for Disabilities) (Scotland) Regulations 1992 No. 1335  »