Student discount or exemption

Apply for a student discount or exemption 

Who can apply? 

You can apply for a student discount or exemption if you're: 

• a student in full time education at university or college for:
  • at least one academic year with 21 hours of study per week or;
  • at least 12 hours of study per week if under 20 years old 
• an apprentice on a scheme leading to a qualification 
• a youth training trainee receiving training on an approved scheme for Social Security benefit purposes 
• a foreign language assistant at a school or other educational institution in Great Britain 

How much student discount or exemption can I get? 

You can get a 25% student discount on your council tax if all but one of the adults living in the property is a student. 

You can get a 100% student exemption on your council tax if all the adults living in the property are students. 

What evidence do I need to submit? 

You'll need to submit the following evidence with your application, if you don't submit this evidence your application will not be processed: 

• If you're a student at university or college upload your student certificate confirming university or college enrolment and course start and ends dates. You can get this from your university portal, we accept screen shots. 
• If you're an apprentice, the last 2 months wage slips if you get paid monthly or last 5 weeks wage slips if you get paid weekly 

How do I apply? 

You can apply up to 14 days in advance of starting your course. 

Depending on the type of course, you'll need to upload your student certificate or wage slips with your application, please have these ready. 

Apply online

You should continue to pay your council tax until your application has been processed.

What happens next?  

If you submit your student discount or exemption application online with the correct evidence, we'll process your application as follows: 

• Stage 1 - Apply Online 
• Stage 2 - Email confirmation - application received 
• Stage 3 - Application processed
• Stage 4 - Email confirmation - application approved
• Stage 5 - Discount/Exemption applied to your Council Tax account 

What do I do if my circumstances change? 

You must tell us if your circumstances change and you're no longer a student. Go to 'contact us' in your Council Tax Online account and tell us the date your student status ended.