UKCISA - international student advice and guidance

Student exemption

Last modified: 09 November 2023

Who is a "student"?

You will be exempt from paying Council Tax if you meet the Council Tax definition of ‘student’. Having a Student (including Tier 4) visa is not necessarily sufficient to meet this definition.

You will count as a student for Council Tax purposes if you are:

(i) under 20 years old, and studying for a qualification up to or equivalent to A level or Higher Scottish Certificate of Education on a course lasting 3 months or more involving a minimum of 12 hours a week daytime study; or

(ii) a foreign language assistant working in a school or educational institution and registered with the British Council; or

(iii) studying and enrolled at an institution in the UK, or in another country of the European Union, on a course which:

(a) lasts at least one academic year, or one calendar year if your educational institution does not have academic years; and

(b) requires you to undertake the course for at least 24 weeks a year; and

If you are undertaking a full-time course of study as in paragraph (iii), this applies from the day that your course starts. Therefore, be aware that some local authorities may charge Council Tax for the period from your arrival in the UK to the day before your course starts. You will stop being regarded as a full-time student when your course ends, and may therefore be charged Council Tax for any period after you have finished one course and are waiting to start another, but you should not be charged during any vacation periods that fall between terms or semesters whilst your course is ongoing.

Providing you meet the requirements at paragraph (iii), you may be considered to be a full-time student for council tax purposes if you are:

a distance learning student,
writing up your thesis or dissertation (so long as you remain enrolled at your college or university during this time),
studying full-time at an educational institution in Europe for part of your UK course, or
studying full-time at an educational institution in Europe and are in the UK undertaking a work placement as part of your course.

You may not be considered a full-time student for council tax purposes if you are:

living in England and Wales and undertaking a course with a work placement where the period of time on work placements exceeds the total combined periods of study or tuition, unless you are undertaking a course of initial teacher training;
undertaking a condensed course, where the total period of study has been reduced to less than an academic or calendar year;
undertaking re-sits or repeating part of a course that does not require 21 hours or more study per week;
writing up your thesis or dissertation, and your college or university does not enrol students during this period;
an NUS or Student Union sabbatical officer and are not studying full time (if you have not completed your studies then the situation is less clear); or
a postgraduate doctor or dentist.

If you are unclear about whether you covered by the definition of student for Council Tax purposes, or for what period you are covered, you should seek specialist advice.

The definition of student described here has applied since 13 May 2011. If you have been found liable for a bill for a period before 13 May 2011, then you may need to seek specialist advice to establish whether a student exemption or disregard should apply.

Exempt accommodation

Deferring or interrupting studies

Short courses

Academic visitors

Student nurses

Proving you are a "student"

Living with non-students

Last modified: 09 November 2023

If you live with adults who are not students, there will be a bill for the dwelling. You cannot be held jointly liable to pay the bill, for example, if you are a joint tenant with the non-student(s). However you may still be liable for a bill if you are the only liable person, or if all the jointly liable people are students.

If you are living with someone who has immigration permission as a Student (including a Tier 4 (General) student), because they are a sabbatical officer, or are a postgraduate doctor or dentist, then they may not be considered to be a 'student' for Council Tax purposes, even though they are sponsored under the Student route (see Who is a "student"). You will need to seek advice from your institution's advice service or Students' Union to find out what their status is in relation to Council Tax, and whether they will be considered to be 'disregarded' for the purpose of the Council Tax bill.

If the only non-student adult in your dwelling is your spouse (husband or wife), civil partner or an adult dependant, the dwelling may still be exempt. The dwelling should still be exempt if your spouse, civil partner or dependant is not a British citizen, and has been given immigration permission to be in the UK with a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition, or a prohibition on employment endorsed in their passport, on their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) or eVisa. Your dwelling may also be exempt if you, your spouse, civil partner or adult dependant live with someone who has been granted permission under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.

Some local authorities have refused to recognise that a dependant who has permission to work in the UK but has a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition is exempt from Council Tax. This generally happens because while the law says that the concession is for a dependant who is prevented from taking paid employment or from claiming public funds, the local authority may interpret the word "or" to mean "and". In May 2012, Mr Justice Sales in the High Court dismissed such an interpretation by the London Borough of Harrow on this basis, in a case specifically about the council tax liability of the dependant of a student. The judgment confirmed that local authorities should be applying the latter "disjunctive" meaning of "or", and that it is sufficient for a spouse to meet one of the requirements, not both. If you wish to appeal against your local authority's interpretation of "or", it is advisable that you seek advice from an adviser at your institution, your Students’ Union, your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau or a local solicitor. and refer them to this judgement (Harrow London Borough Council v Ayiku [2012] EWHC 1200). An earlier judgment by Lord Denning in the case of Crosfield Electronics v Baginsky and Others [1975] 1 W.L.R. 1135 was not specifically related to council tax or to students, but did have the same interpretation of the word "or".

The dwelling will not be exempt if your non-student spouse, civil partner or adult dependant living with you in the dwelling are:

A British citizen
Settled in the UK (with 'indefinite leave to enter' or 'indefinite leave to remain')

The bill

Last modified: 10 November 2023

A Council Tax bill is calculated according to two main elements:

the value of the dwelling, and
the number of adult residents age 18 or over who are solely or mainly resident in the dwelling.

The local authority assigns the value of each dwelling to one of eight ‘bands’, A-H, with A being the lowest value band, H the highest. You can check your dwelling's band online. Each local authority sets the amount of tax payable for each band for its own area, so Council Tax rates vary across the country.

In order to establish how much of the full council tax charge needs to be paid, the local authority will count the number of adults who are living in the dwelling. However, they will ‘disregard’ certain resident adults, including:

those exempt as they meet the Council Tax definition for 'student'
student nurses on registered courses who are not deemed to be ‘full-time students’ under the Council Tax legislation
recent school leavers under 20 years old, who left school after 30 April (eligible to be disregarded only until 1 November of the same year)
spouses or civil partners or dependants of students who hold immigration permission for a limited period of time (known as 'limited leave to remain') and who are prevented from taking employment or claiming public funds as a condition of their permission.

For other categories of disregarded adults, contact your local authority. If there are two or more resident adults who are not ‘disregarded’ a bill will be issued for the full amount according to the dwelling’s ‘band’. However, a discount is applied to dwellings with less than two resident adults. For more information on these discounts, and for guidance on reductions for those with a disability, see Council Tax information available on Gov.uk.

Local authorities in England and Wales have discretionary powers to reduce council tax in an individual case, for example on grounds of hardship or as a result of misfortune such as flooding of a property. For further information contact your local authority.

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Who is liable for paying the bill?

If your dwelling is not exempt, after the bill has been calculated, it will be issued to the person or people liable to pay the bill. They are legally responsible for paying the bill.

Who is liable to pay the bill depends on the status of the adults who are solely or mainly resident in the dwelling, for example, whether someone is an owner or tenant, and also the type of accommodation that it is.

It may be that one person has ‘sole liability’ and is the only person responsible for paying the bill, or two or more may have ‘joint or several’ liability, which means that more than one person will be responsible for paying the bill. A person may be liable to pay the bill even though they are disregarded for the purpose of a discount.

A student will not be liable for the council tax bill where they:

meet the council tax definition of student; and
would normally be jointly liable with non-students because they are joint tenants (ie have signed the same tenancy agreement).

Where a student is the only resident or has the most secure legal status in the property (for example, they are the owner and everyone else is a tenant), so is solely liable for the bill, they will remain liable.

This table confirms who has liability in some common student living situations:

Living situation	Who is liable to pay the bill?
You are the only adult resident in the dwelling	You have sole liability
You are sharing the dwelling with the landlord or owner	Landlord or owner
You are living in a ‘house in multiple occupation’ (HMO) - see below	Owner or landlord
You are sharing the dwelling with your spouse/civil partner/unmarried partner (who is not a ‘student’ and does not have a prohibition on employment or no recourse to public funds condition attached to their immigration permission), and you have both signed the tenancy agreement	Spouse/civil partner/unmarried partner as a student is exempt from liability (see below)
You are sharing the dwelling with your spouse or civil partner (who is not a ‘student’ and does not have a prohibition on employment or no recourse to public funds condition attached to their immigration permission), and only you have signed the tenancy agreement	Spouse/civil partner/unmarried partner as they are automatically liable even if they are not joint tenants. In this instance the student exemption from liability applies (see below)
You are sharing the dwelling with a non-student, and have both signed a joint tenancy agreement	Non-student as the student exemption from liability applies (see below)
You are sharing the dwelling with a ‘student nurse’ and have both signed a joint tenancy agreement	Student nurse as the student exemption from liability applies (see below)

In an HMO different households occupy the same building but share certain facilities, such as a bathroom or kitchen, and each household signs a separate tenancy agreement. Note that a self-contained flat, where the only shared area is an entrance or hall and stairs, is usually treated as a separate dwelling for Council Tax purposes.

Where the owner is liable for paying council tax then part of the cost may be passed on to you through your rent, but the local authority cannot make you pay the bill in such circumstances.

What if you don't pay?

Appeal a Council Tax bill

Change of circumstances

Council Tax and ‘no recourse to public funds’

If you have immigration permission to be in the UK and a condition of your visa is that you have ‘no recourse to public funds’ (this includes everyone that has a Student or Tier 4 visa), you are not entitled to receive public funds (see here for further information on public funds).

If your dwelling is 'exempt' from Council Tax, or you are 'disregarded' for the purpose of Council Tax, you are not deemed to be receiving public funds and are not breaching this condition of your immigration permission.

'Council Tax Reduction' scheme

Paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules defines ‘public funds’ and this definition specifically lists ‘Council Tax Reduction’ as a public fund:

council tax reduction under a council tax reduction scheme made under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 in relation to England or Wales
a council tax reduction pursuant to the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012 or the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

Every local authority operates a ‘Council Tax Reduction’ scheme for some people on low incomes who are liable for Council Tax. Each local authority will set out who is entitled to a 'Council Tax reduction', and entitlement for a 'Council Tax reduction' may vary for different local authorities. While it is unlikely that full-time international students are eligible for a 'Council Tax reduction', if your immigration permission has the condition ‘no recourse to public funds’ and you have been in receipt of a 'Council Tax reduction', you are possibly breaching this condition. If a condition of your visa states you have ‘no recourse to public funds’ and you live with a resident adult who is claiming ‘Council Tax Reduction’, be cautious of whether this may affect you. For example, if the claimant is no longer eligible for a single person discount because of your presence in the dwelling, and therefore the amount they claim increases, then it risks breaching the conditions of your immigration permission.

While this is unlikely to happen, if you are in any doubt about whether you are claiming or have ever claimed a 'Council Tax reduction' which is deemed to be a public fund under the Immigration Rules, it’s recommended you seek specialist advice.

Council Tax