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Student Support and Benefits Handbook 2021/22

Chapter 25: Council tax

This chapter covers:

1. What is council tax (below)

2. Who pays council tax (here)

3. Council tax reduction (here)

4. Second adult rebate (here)

Basic facts

– Council tax is a local tax on residential dwellings. It

does not apply in Northern Ireland.

– You do not pay council tax if you are under 18.

– Most full-time students do not pay council tax.

- Apprentices are exempt from council tax.

– Full-time and part-time students who are liable to pay council tax may be able to get help in the form of a council tax reduction.

1. What is council tax

Council tax is a tax on residential dwellings and is paid to the local authority. There is one amount to pay and one bill for each dwelling, unless it is exempt from council tax. A ’dwelling’ includes a self-contained flat.

Each dwelling is allocated a valuation band from A to H, based on property values in 1991 (2005 in Wales). The amount of council tax is lowest for those in Band A.

Some dwellings are exempt from council tax. If a property is exempt, there is no council tax to pay for anyone who lives there or for a non-resident owner. There are also exemptions specifically for students (see here).

Properties occupied solely by students are usually exempt, and the local authority receives additional funds from central government instead of the council tax that would have been paid. Students who share with non-students are also exempt from paying council tax, although the property itself is not exempt.

If you are a student and you are liable, the amount you must pay may be reduced if you are eligible for council tax reduction (see here) or a second adult rebate (see here).

2. Who pays council tax

As a student, you may be exempt from paying council tax if:

•the accommodation in which you live is exempt (see here); or
•you are not liable to pay (see here).

If neither of these applies, it may be possible to reduce the council tax bill if:

•the liable person can get a discount (see here); or
•the liable person can get council tax reduction (see here) or a second adult rebate (see 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 an advanced or non-advanced course. For older students, one rule applies whatever the level of your course. Note: apprentices do not count as students (see here).

Under 20 in non-advanced education

You are regarded as a ’student’ for council tax purposes if you are aged 19 or under and on a non-advanced course of more than 12 hours a week.1Sch 1 para 5(1) CT(DD)O

Non-advanced course

A ’non-advanced course’ is one below the level of a foundation degree, honours degree, Higher National Certificate, Higher National Diploma or national vocational qualification (NVQ) level 4. It includes A levels, national diplomas and national certificates. The course must last more than three months.2Sch 1 para 6(1)(a) CT(DD)O It does not include evening classes,3Sch 1 para 6(1)(e) CT(DD)O correspondence courses,4Sch 1 para 6(1)(c) CT(DD)O or courses taken as a result of your office or occupation.5Sch 1 para 6(1)(d) CT(DD)O

 

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 exercises, experiments, projects and practical work.6Sch 1 paras 5(3) and 6(2) CT(DD)O

You are treated as a student on each day from the day you start the course until the day you complete it, abandon it or are dismissed from it.7Sch 1 para 3 CT(DD)O 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.8Sch 1 para 5(2) CT(DD)O However, you might be able to get a discount (see here).

Example

Drew is 18 and taking three A levels 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     Sch 1 para 5(1) CT(DD)O »

2     Sch 1 para 6(1)(a) CT(DD)O »

3     Sch 1 para 6(1)(e) CT(DD)O »

4     Sch 1 para 6(1)(c) CT(DD)O »

5     Sch 1 para 6(1)(d) CT(DD)O »

6     Sch 1 paras 5(3) and 6(2) CT(DD)O »

7     Sch 1 para 3 CT(DD)O »

8     Sch 1 para 5(2) CT(DD)O »

Under 20 in higher education

The rules are the same as for those aged 20 or over (see below).

20 or over in non-advanced or higher education

You are regarded as a ’student’ for council tax purposes if the course requires you to undertake periods of study, tuition or work experience for at least 21 hours a week in at least 24 weeks each academic year.1Sch 1 para 4(1) CT(DD)O

If you are on a sandwich course, required periods of work experience are included.

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 undertake it.2Sch 1 para 3 CT(DD)O So if you take time out and are not enrolled on the course during that period, you do not count as a student for council tax purposes. If this means you become liable for council tax, check whether you can get council tax reduction (see here).

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 undertake the course. Because the law says you are not a student if you are ’no longer permitted by the institution to undertake [the course]’, it 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. In an informal letter, written in 1996, the former Department of the Environment (then responsible for council tax) stated: 3Council tax information letter 5, 29 April 1996

In our view a period of intercalation will remain within the period of a course… and therefore, provided that the person remains enrolled at the education establishment, they will continue to fall within the definition of a full-time student.

Note: a valuation tribunal decision indicates that students who are repeating a full-time course on a part-time basis may not be regarded as meeting the definition of ‘full-time student’, even if their normal attendance is on a full-time basis.4Valuation Tribunal for England appeals 1765M88934/176C and 1765M88933/176C It is therefore important to ensure that your institution is clear about the normal expectations of your course in any documentation it provides.

Your college or university determines the number of hours of your course. You may need evidence from it to prove to the local authority that you count as a student. Colleges and universities are required by law to provide you with a certificate, if you ask for one while you are a student or for up to a year after you leave the course.5Sch 1 para 5 LGFA 1992 After that, they may still give you a certificate, but are not legally required to do so. The certificate must contain:6Art 5 CT(DD)O

•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 (or were) enrolled on a course requiring you to undertake periods of study, tuition or work experience of at least 21 hours a week over at least 24 weeks a year; and
•the date you became a student and the date your course ends.

Note: the rapid change in the way that higher education courses are delivered and structured may not be reflected in council tax legislation, and so certain courses may not meet the definition of ‘full time’. For example, condensed courses which do not last a full academic year do not exempt you from council tax, even if the number of hours you attend a week is much higher to reflect the shorter length of the programme.7Wirral Borough Council v Farthing [2008] EWHC 1919 (Ch)

 

1     Sch 1 para 4(1) CT(DD)O »

2     Sch 1 para 3 CT(DD)O »

3     Council tax information letter 5, 29 April 1996 »

4     Valuation Tribunal for England appeals 1765M88934/176C and 1765M88933/176C »

5     Sch 1 para 5 LGFA 1992 »

6     Art 5 CT(DD)O »

7     Wirral Borough Council v Farthing [2008] EWHC 1919 (Ch) »

Postgraduate students

Full-time postgraduate students are regarded as ’students’ for council tax purposes in the same way as other full-time higher education students.

In the past, some postgraduate research students had difficulty securing council tax exemption because local authorities considered that their periods of ’study, tuition or work experience’ did not meet the requirements of the regulations and that, in particular, research did not count as ’study’. This has been successfully challenged in an appeal in Kent1Kent Valuation Tribunal appeal 2220M23702/148C/1 and in a High Court case involving Cambridge City Council.2Feller v Cambridge City Council [2011] EWHC 1252 (Admin) The council tax regulations were amended in 2011 so that the requirement is to ’undertake’ the course for the prescribed periods as opposed to ’attend’ it, as was previously required. This should make it easier for postgraduate students to show they meet the requirements for exemption.

Other postgraduate students have had difficulty in securing exemption during the thesis ’writing-up’ period after the formal end of the course. While some local authorities are sympathetic and extend student status after the end of the course, others have regarded such students as liable as they are no longer ’within the period of their course’. A High Court ruling in 2008 in the case of Fayad v Lewisham has served to harden some local authorities’ views (although in that case, the student was trying to claim exemption for a writing-up period lasting more than two years).3Fayad v Lewisham [2008] EWHC 2531 (Admin) The case has been used by some local authorities to suggest that PhD students are ineligible for exemption even during the formal period of the course, but this should be challenged as the ruling related only to a writing-up period.

If this affects you, get advice from your students’ union or institution’s advice centre. In particular, check the dates of the course given by the institution and be prepared to challenge this if necessary.

Note: if you have completed an undergraduate course and intend to start a postgraduate course in the following academic year, you are not a student as you are not within the period of either course. Depending on your circumstances, however, you may be able to claim council tax reduction (see here) or a discount on the bill (see here).

 

1     Kent Valuation Tribunal appeal 2220M23702/148C/1 »

2     Feller v Cambridge City Council [2011] EWHC 1252 (Admin) »

3     Fayad v Lewisham [2008] EWHC 2531 (Admin) »

Student nurses

Although the council tax legislation includes references to ‘student nurses’,1Sch 1 para 7 CT(DD)O the definition refers to traditional hospital-based courses, which were phased out in the 1990s, and so is now redundant in practice. However, students on higher education nursing courses are regarded as ‘students’ under the same definition that applies to other full-time students, as made clear in amendments to the council tax regulations in 1994.2Council Tax (Discount Disregards) (Amendment) Order 1994, No.543 If a local authority wants proof of ‘student nurse’ status, refer it to these regulations.

 

1     Sch 1 para 7 CT(DD)O »

2     Council Tax (Discount Disregards) (Amendment) Order 1994, No.543 »

Exempt dwellings

A dwelling is exempt from council tax if everyone who occupies it is:1Reg 3 CT(ED)O

•a student; or
•a student’s partner from abroad who 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 (or vice versa), the High Court has ruled that s/he is covered by this exemption;2Harrow LBC v Ayiku [2012] EWHC 1200 (Admin) or
•under age 18; or
•under age 20 and left non-advanced education at school or college after 30 April – this only applies between 1 May and 31 October of the year they left school or college; or
•‘severely mentally impaired’.

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, for example, on the student’s term-time accommodation through the summer vacation. Dwellings left unoccupied by a student owner are exempt indefinitely, provided the owner has been a student since s/he last occupied the dwelling or within six weeks of leaving it. Unoccupied dwellings that are substantially unfurnished are exempt for up to six months. 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 indefinitely.

If the dwelling is exempt, there is no council tax to pay.

There are a number of other exemptions that are not specifically for students. For details, see CPAG’s Council Tax Handbook.

 

1     Reg 3 CT(ED)O »

2     Harrow LBC v Ayiku [2012] EWHC 1200 (Admin) »

Full-time students liable for council tax

Most full-time students are not liable to pay council tax. This is because either the dwelling is exempt because everyone who lives in it is a full-time student or, if a student lives with non-students, s/he is usually deemed exempt from liability for the council tax due on the property.

If the dwelling is not exempt from council tax, at least one person is liable for the bill. This depends on her/his position in a liability hierarchy. The person who comes the highest in the hierarchy is the one who is liable to pay. If there are two or more people at the same level in the hierarchy, they are usually jointly liable (see here).

Council tax liability hierarchy

– Resident with a freehold interest in the property

– Resident with a leasehold on the property, or the superior leaseholder if there is more than one

– Resident tenant

– Resident statutory or secure tenant

– Resident who is a licensee

– Other resident, including a squatter

 

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.1s74 LGA 2003

There is one situation in which a student may be liable for council tax. If a non-student adult lives in a property, the property is not exempt from council tax. If you are a full-time student living with non-students, but you are higher on the hierarchy of liability than the non-students (eg, you are the owner of the property or the only person named on the tenancy agreement), you, not the non-students, are liable for the council tax. In this case, you may be entitled to a discount on the bill or to council tax reduction, depending on your circumstances.

Example: joint tenants

Three students, Pooja, Joey and Zarah, share a flat as joint tenants. While they are all students, the flat is exempt and there is no council tax to pay. Joey drops out of his course. The flat is no longer exempt and Joey is solely liable for the whole council tax bill (although there is a discount). Pooja and Zarah are not liable for any council tax. Joey should apply for a council tax reduction if his income is low.

 

Examples: students who are liable

Antonia is studying full time and owns the flat in which she lives. She rents a room to a friend, Bill, who is not a student. Antonia is liable for the council tax. As there is only one non-student at the property, there is a 25 per cent discount on the bill. Bill is not liable for any council tax.

 

Raj is studying full time and rents the flat in which he lives. He sublets a room to a friend who is also a student. Raj is higher on the hierarchy of liability, but, as both of them are students, the flat is exempt from council tax and the bill is nil.

 

 

1     s74 LGA 2003 »

Joint liability

‘Joint and several liability’ means that, in legal terms, you can be held liable for all of a bill on which you are named, or for a share of it, even though there are other named individuals. It gives the local authority the right to pursue as many, or as few, of the people named on the council tax bill for payment as it wants, regardless of how many liable residents there are, or were, in the property.1s6 LGFA 1992

In practice, local authorities try to bill as many liable people as possible. However, if a local authority cannot contact all the liable people (eg, because someone has moved out of the property and left no contact details), those who it can contact can be required to pay the total amount between them. If a local authority can only contact one person, it can require her/him to pay the whole bill.

Usually, couples who live together are jointly liable for the council tax. Students, however, are exempt from this rule. If you have a non-student partner who is liable for council tax, you are not jointly liable while you are a student.2ss9 and 77 LGFA 1992

 

1     s6 LGFA 1992 »

2     ss9 and 77 LGFA 1992 »

Discounts

The full council tax bill assumes that there are two adults living in the property. If there is only one person living in the property, you get a discount of 25 per cent. If there is no one living in the property, you get a discount of 50 per cent.

Some people are disregarded when counting how many people live in the property. They are sometimes described as ‘invisible’ or having a ‘status discount’.

The following people are disregarded in this way:

•anyone under 18 years old;
•anyone aged 18 or over for whom child benefit is payable;
•a full-time student;
•a student’s partner who is not a British citizen and whose immigration status prevents her/him from taking up paid employment or accessing social security benefits (though not necessarily both);
•someone under age 20 who was on a non-advanced course of education and who left school or college after 1 May. The discount applies from 1 May until 31 October;
•a student nurse (see here for who counts);
•an apprentice (see below for who counts);
•others – eg, carers, hospital patients and trainees. See CPAG’s Council Tax Handbook for details.

Apprentices

You count as an ‘apprentice’ for council tax purposes, if:

– you are employed for the purpose of learning a trade, business, profession, office, employment or vocation;

– your training programme leads to a qualification accredited by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) or by the Welsh Ministers; and

– you are receiving a salary or allowance (or both), which totals no more than £195 per week before bonuses or overtime.1 Sch 1 para 1 CT(DD)O

You will need to show the local authority evidence of your status, such as your apprenticeship agreement and payslips.

 

1      Sch 1 para 1 CT(DD)O »

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 property is substantially and permanently disabled and uses a wheelchair indoors or needs an extra room.

3. Council tax reduction

Council tax reduction is administered by local authorities and helps you pay your council tax. It replaced council tax benefit (CTB) in April 2013, and may be referred to by your local authority as ‘council tax support’, or similar. Local authorities have the discretion on how to run their own schemes. However, there is a ’default scheme’, which has been adopted by a large number of local authorities.1CTRS(DS)(E) Regs If you live in Wales, there is a national scheme and local authorities are funded by the Welsh government.2CTRS(PR)(W) Regs

If you have reached pension age, your local authority should provide support that mirrors that previously available under the CTB scheme.3Reg 11 CTRS(PR)(E) Regs

Most full-time students do not need to claim help as they are not liable for council tax. If you are liable, you might be able to get council tax reduction, depending on your local scheme.

In general, if your local authority has adopted the default scheme and you are a full-time student, you are not eligible for help unless you get certain other benefits, you are a lone parent or one of a student couple with children, or you are disabled.

If you are a part-time student, you may get help, depending on your circumstances and the details of your local scheme. The fact that you are a part-time student, in itself, is unlikely to affect your eligibility for a reduction.

However, schemes may have individual differences, so ask your local authority for details of its scheme. Note: scheme rules may change from year to year.

 

1     CTRS(DS)(E) Regs »

2     CTRS(PR)(W) Regs »

3     Reg 11 CTRS(PR)(E) Regs »

4. Second adult rebate

Students in England who are liable for council tax may be able to claim second adult rebate. The law refers to this rebate as ’alternative maximum council tax reduction’. It is intended for people whose bill is higher because they live with someone who cannot get a status discount (see here), but who cannot make a full contribution towards the bill. You can only get a second adult rebate if you live with others who are not full-time students. Note: second adult rebate is not available in Wales.

Since April 2013, local authorities have been able to choose whether to offer second adult rebate. If you can claim, your entitlement depends on the income of the person who shares with you. Your own income or capital is ignored.

You may be able to get a second adult rebate if:

•you are liable for council tax or you are jointly liable and all of those jointly liable are (or all but one are) students or have a status discount for some other reason (see here); and
•you have a ’second adult’ (see below) living with you; and
•the second adult gets universal credit (UC), income support (IS), income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) or pension credit (PC), or has a low income.

Second adult

A ’second adult’ is someone aged 18 or over who is a non-dependant – ie, someone who lives with you on a non-commercial basis, is not a student and does not have a status discount for any other reason.

If you are eligible for second adult rebate and for council tax reduction, the local authority decides which is worth the most to you. You cannot get both at the same time. If you get a second adult rebate, your council tax is reduced by 25 per cent, 15 per cent or 7.5 per cent depending on the income of the second adult. You may be able to get a reduction of 100 per cent if the second adult gets UC, IS, income-based JSA, income-related ESA or PC.

As the rules on second adult rebate are complex, get advice from your students’ union, educational institution or local Citizens Advice office.