If you’re a student, you may be able to get a Council Tax discount or exemption.
Full-time students
You may qualify if you are:
- studying on a full-time course (at least 21 hours a week), or
- under 20 and in full-time further education, or
- studying for a full-time degree, or
- a foreign language assistant
If everyone in your household is a full-time student, you will not have to pay Council Tax.
If you live with people who are not students, they may still receive a discount.
Full-time students are not counted when we work out how many people live in a property (this is called a ‘disregard’).
You usually will not have to pay Council Tax unless you are the only adult living in the property.
Proof you’ll need
To apply, you must provide a student exemption certificate from your college or university.
We cannot accept:
- an offer letter
- a grant award notice
- a student union card
How to apply
You’ll need to sign in or register for an online Council Tax account and apply online.
Apprentices
You may be disregarded for Council Tax if you are an apprentice. To qualify, you must:
- earn no more than £195 per week
If you are disregarded, you are not counted when we calculate the number of adults in a property.
A discount will not apply if there are more than 2 adults in the property and only 1 is disregarded.
Apply through your online Council Tax account.
Student nurses
You may qualify for a discount if you are a student nurse. You must:
- be studying a course that leads to your first registration on the Nursing Register
- This includes courses leading to registration under Parts 1 to 6 or 8 of the register.
- You will not qualify if:
- you are already registered and taking further training
Discount available
Properties occupied only by student nurses can get a 50% discount
You will be treated as a student (not a student nurse) if you are:
- studying for an Advanced Diploma in Nursing Studies
- already a nurse or health visitor doing further full-time study
- training for registration under Parts 10 or 11
Apply through your online Council Tax account.
18 to 19-year-olds in education
Some school or college leavers can be disregarded for Council Tax.
You may qualify if you are:
- under 20, and
- in full-time education (up to A level, BTEC ONC or OND)
Your course must:
- last at least 3 months
- involve more than 12 hours a week of study or tuition
- not be a correspondence course
- not be related to your job (for example, day release)
After leaving education
If you leave school or college after 30 April, you can usually be disregarded until 1 November of the same year.
Proof you’ll need
You’ll need to provide evidence that Child Benefit is still being paid, such as:
- an entitlement letter
- bank statements