Council Tax exemption for full time students

Households where everyone’s a full-time student don’t have to pay Council Tax.  If you get a bill, you can apply for an exemption.

• If you live in a Halls of Residence you don’t need to apply as an exemption is already in place. Please liaise with your student accommodation officer.
• If you live with one other adult who is not a student, we will reduce your bill by 25%.

If you live at home with two or more adults who pay full Council Tax, you are not eligible to apply.

Eligibility criteria

To get a discount/exemption you must be a full-time student (including project 2000 nurses, health visitors and student midwives) and undertaking a qualifying course of education with a prescribed educational establishment.

You are classed as a full-time student for council tax if:

• you are 18 or over and at college, university or similar;
• your course lasts at least 24 weeks in the year; and
• it involves at least 21 hours of study a week; and
• the college or university considers your course to be full-time.

In addition:

• you are also classed as a full-time student if you are 18 or 19 and on a non-advanced course like A-Levels that lasts at least three months and involves at least 12 hours of study a week.
• your college or university must be in the UK or the European Union, you don't have to attend; you can be engaged in distance learning if you meet the other student criteria
• you must live in the UK.

How to apply 

Apply. You’ll need to provide details of your place of study and course details, including your start and end date.

We will need to see a copy of the student certificate for each student. Please note that a certificate is not required for students at Chichester University or Chichester College as we are provided with a list of qualifying students automatically. We will, however, still require an application form from these students

If you’re a landlord you’ll need to provide the name, date of birth and student identification numbers for each student in a property.

What happens next?

We’ll check the details you have provided, and we may get in touch with your place of study to confirm your course details.

We aim to respond to you within 14 days with our decision. But if we need further information from you this may delay the application.

Foreign students with an overseas partner or dependant

If you are a foreign full-time student with a partner or dependant who is not a British citizen and is not allowed to work or claim benefits you will not have to pay Council Tax while you are studying.

Please apply for student status as above but also supply a copy of your partners passport