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3. Council tax reduction

Council tax reduction is administered by local authorities and helps you pay the council tax. To get council tax reduction, you must meet all the following conditions.1

  • You are liable for council tax. Most students are not liable for council tax and have no need to apply for a reduction.
  • You do not count as a student, or you count as a student but are still eligible for council tax reduction (see below).
  • You are ‘habitually resident’ in the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, have a ‘right to reside’ in the UK, and are not a ‘person subject to immigration control’. These terms are explained in CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook.
  • You have no more than £16,000 capital. There is no capital limit if you are getting pension credit guarantee credit (see here).
  • Your income is low enough. Council tax reduction is means tested, so the amount you get depends on how much income you have.

Reference
References
  • 1

    Regs 13, 16, 19 and 42 CTR(S) Regs

Students eligible for council tax reduction

Part-time students are eligible for council tax reduction. If you are a full-time student, you are not eligible unless:1

  • you are a qualifying young person for child benefit purposes (see here); or
  • you are aged under 22 on a course of further education (FE) which you started when you were under 21; or
  • you are a full-time student in higher education, or aged 19 or over in FE and:
    • you get universal credit or income-related employment and support allowance; or
    • you are a lone parent; or
    • you have a child and your partner is also a full-time student; or
    • you are a disabled student (same as for housing benefit (HB) – see here); or
    • you have reached pension age.

The way ‘full-time student’ is defined is the same as for HB (see here).2 Note: it is not the same as the definition for council tax described in this chapter.

If you are not eligible under the rules above, but you have a non-student partner, your partner can apply instead.

You can get an application form for council tax reduction from the local authority.

Reference
References
  • 1

    Reg 20 CTR(S) Regs

  • 2

    Reg 4 CTR(S) Regs

4. Second adult rebate

All students who are liable for council tax can claim second adult rebate. The law refers to this as ‘alternative maximum council tax reduction’. It is intended for people whose bill is higher because they live with others who cannot get a status discount but who cannot make a full contribution towards a share of the bill. You can only get a second adult rebate if you live with others who are not students. If all of you are students, you cannot get this rebate.

Whether or not you get a rebate depends on the income of the people who share with you. Your own income or capital is ignored.

You can get a second adult rebate if:1

  • you are liable for council tax; and
  • you have a ‘second adult’ living with you; and
  • the second adult is on universal credit (UC), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) or pension credit (PC), or has a low income; and
  • you do not get rent from a tenant or sub-tenant (arguably, rent from students or others who have a status discount should not prevent you from getting second adult rebate);2 and
  • if you are in a couple, one or both of you are students or have a status discount for some other reason; and
  • if you are jointly liable for the council tax, all of those jointly liable are (or all but one are) students or have a status discount for some other reason.

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 a 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, you get a reduction of 100 per cent if the second adult(s) gets UC and has no earned income, income-related ESA or PC and everyone else is a full-time student,3 or 25 per cent, 15 per cent or 7.5 per cent depending on the income of the second adult(s).4

Examples

Terry lives with his daughter, Minnie, aged 25. Terry is a full-time student. Minnie is claiming jobseeker’s allowance. Terry rents the house from a housing association. Terry can claim a second adult rebate of 100 per cent. Minnie is the second adult.

Dean is a student and he owns the flat he shares with his brother, Steve. Steve is aged 19 and on UC with no earned income. Dean can claim a second adult rebate of 100 per cent. Steve is the second adult.

Reference
References
  • 1

    Reg 91 and Sch 2 CTR(S) Regs

  • 2

    Reg 13(6) and (7) CTR (S) Regs

  • 3

    Sch 2 para 1(d) CTR(S) Regs, as amended by reg 19 The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 No.52

  • 4

    Sch 2 para 1 CTR(S) Regs, as amended by reg 19 The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 No.52

Basic facts

  • Students may be able to receive student support or get social security benefits during periods of absence from their course.
  • Support is usually only available if you have taken time out because you are ill, pregnant or you have to care for someone.
  • Support may also be available once you have recovered from your illness or your caring responsibilities have ceased and you are waiting to return to your course.

2. Who is eligible

Under age 19

If you are in full-time education, you are entitled to vouchers for glasses.

If you are in part-time education, you are not automatically exempt from NHS charges, but you may get help because you get a qualifying benefit, are in an exempt group or qualify under the low income scheme (see here).

Under age 26

If you are under 26, you are entitled to free NHS dental treatment. It does not matter if you are studying full time or part time or not studying at all.

Age 26 or over

You are not automatically exempt from NHS charges because you are a student, but you may get help because you get a qualifying benefit, are in an exempt group or qualify under the low income scheme.

Qualifying benefits

You get free NHS dental treatment, vouchers for glasses and certain fares to hospital if you get:

  • universal credit (UC) and you:1
    • have no earnings; or
    • earn £435 or less a month (or, if you have a partner, your combined earnings are £435 or less a month); or
    • have a child element in your UC, or you or your partner (or both of you) have limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) and earn £935 or less a month (or, if you have a partner, your combined earnings are £935 or less a month); or
  • guarantee credit of pension credit.

Reference
References
  • 1

    NHS(TERC)(S) Regs, as amended (most recently in 2021 by SI No.241)

Exempt groups

Dental treatment

You are eligible for free NHS dental treatment if:

  • you are pregnant or have given birth in the last year; or
  • you are under the Public Dental Service (for people who have difficulty getting treatment for reasons such as a disability); or
  • you are an asylum seeker getting asylum support; or
  • you get a war pension and need treatment for your war disablement; or
  • you are a care leaver getting support from the local authority under section 29 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

Vouchers for glasses or contact lenses

You are eligible for vouchers for glasses if:

  • you are aged under 16; or
  • you have a prescription for complex lenses; or
  • you are a Hospital Eye Service patient; or
  • you are an asylum seeker getting asylum support; or
  • you get a war pension and need treatment for your war disablement; or
  • you are a care leaver getting support from the local authority under section 29 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

Fares to hospital

You are eligible for help with fares to hospital if:

  • it is 30 miles or more away or involves a journey of five miles or more by sea, and you live in the Highlands or Islands – ie:
    • the Highland region, Western Isles, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands;
    • Arran, Great Cumbrae, Little Cumbrae;
    • the area formerly covered by Argyll and Bute District Council;
    • parts of Moray (Aberlour, Cabrach, Dallas, Dyke, Edinkillie, Forres, Inveravon, Kinloss, Kirkmichael, Knockando, Mortlach, Rafford, Rothes); or
  • you are an asylum seeker getting asylum support; or
  • you get a war pension and need treatment for your war disablement; or
  • you are a care leaver getting support from the local authority under section 29 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

Low income scheme

If you are on a low income, you may be eligible for help under the low income scheme, even if you do not qualify on other grounds.

Under the low income scheme, your income is worked out in a similar way to housing benefit, and it is compared with your needs in the form of premiums and allowances, similar to housing benefit but with certain housing costs added.

Step 1: capital

You do not qualify if your capital is over £16,000. If your capital is between £6,000.01 and £16,000, add £1 to your income for every £250, or part of £250, between these limits.

Step 2: work out your requirements

This is an amount for basic weekly needs. See Chapter 6 for details of how to qualify for each premium. Your requirements are made up of:

  • personal allowances
Single person aged under 25£75.65
Single person aged under 25, has claimed ESA and been assessed as having LCW or LCWRA£95.55
Single person aged 25 or over£95.55
Lone parent aged 18 or over£95.55
Couple, both aged 18 or over£150.15
Couple, both pension age or over (both reached pension age on or after 1 April 2021)£363.25
Couple, one or both pension age or over (and reached pension age before 1 April 2021)£383.35
  • premiums
    • carer (as for housing benefit (HB));
    • disability (this is included after 28 weeks of incapacity for work). You also get a disability premium if you (or your partner) are under 60 and get new-style ESA with a work-related activity or support component, or have been getting new-style ESA for at least 28 weeks, or have had LCW for at least 28 weeks. The amount of the disability premium increases to £50.35 if you are single or a lone parent and get new-style ESA with the support component, get the Scottish adult disability living allowance middle or highest rate care component or get the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component of adult disability payment, and have been incapable of work for at least 28 weeks;
    • enhanced disability for an adult (as for HB and also if you (or your partner) are under 60 and get ESA with a support component);
    • severe disability (as for HB);
  • weekly rent less any HB and non-dependant deductions;
  • weekly council tax, if you are liable, less any council tax reduction;
  • mortgage interest, endowment payments and capital repayments on your home, as well as on loans to adapt a home for a disabled person, deducting any non-dependant deductions.

Step 3: work out your weekly income

Income is calculated in a very similar way as it is for HB, with some modifications. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for more details. Your income is taken into account, as well as the income of your partner. Information about how your income is calculated and how student income is treated is in Chapter 14.

Step 4: deduct weekly income from requirements

If your income is less than your requirements or no more than £4.95 (half the cost of an English prescription) higher, you are entitled to maximum help with health benefits. If your income is more than £4.95 higher than your needs, you may get partial help.

You are expected to contribute your ‘excess income’ (the amount by which your income exceeds your needs) towards hospital fares, and you can get help with the rest of the costs up to the maximum amount allowed. You are expected to contribute twice your excess income towards help with glasses or contact lenses and three times your excess income towards help with dental charges.1

Examples

Madhu is a second-year undergraduate aged 20. She has a student loan of £9,400 (including £2,400 special support loan) and a young students’ bursary of £2,000. She is single, has no children and pays £75 rent a week. She gets no UC or HB. Under the low income scheme, her requirements are £150.65 (£75.65 personal allowance, plus £75 rent). Her income from her student loan is £121.29 (see here). Her income is below her requirements so she is entitled to free NHS dental treatment and vouchers for glasses.

Lewis is 26 and is a second-year undergraduate. He needs dental treatment costing £140. His weekly income for health benefits is £140.52 student loan, plus £50 earnings, making a total of £190.52 (see here). His requirements are £95.55 personal allowance plus £80 weekly rent, a total of £175.55. His excess income is £14.97. He must contribute £44.91 (three times his excess income) to his dental treatment. The other £95.09 is paid for him under the low income scheme.

Reference
References
  • 1

    Reg 5 NHS(TERC)(S) Regs, as amended (most recently in 2021 by SI No.241); regs 14 and 19 The National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 1998 No.642, as amended (most recently in 2024 by SI No.38)

3. Claiming health benefits

If you are exempt from charges because you are a student under 19 (or, for dental treatment, under 26), you are under 18 or because you get a qualifying benefit, you should fill in the form when you go for treatment.

If you need to claim on low income grounds and do not get a qualifying benefit, claim online at nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-low-income-scheme or on Form HC1 or phone 0300 330 1343 to request a form. You must provide details of your student loan, grant or bursary, and include a copy of your award letter.

If you have already paid for treatment, claim a refund on Form HC5 within three months.

Basic facts

  • Housing benefit (HB) helps with your rent.
  • You cannot usually make a new claim for HB if you are under pension age.
  • HB is administered by local authorities.
  • Full-time students are eligible if they are on a non-advanced course and are under 21 (or are 21 and turned 21 on their course).
  • Other full-time students are eligible if they are a lone parent, disabled or over pension age.
  • Couples with a child are eligible throughout the year, whether one or both are students.
  • There are limits to the rent covered by HB.
  • HB is means tested and the amount you get depends on your grant, loan and other income.

1. What is housing benefit

Housing benefit (HB) helps with your rent. Most full-time students are not eligible but part-time students are. There are limits to the level of rent that HB covers. HB is means tested, so your grant, loan and other income affect the amount you get.

Note: people under pension age cannot usually make a new claim for HB, as it has been replaced by universal credit (UC). However, an exception applies if you live in certain types of specified or temporary accommodation, such as homeless accommodation (you may still need to claim UC as well for your living costs). See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.

2. Who is eligible

To qualify for housing benefit (HB), you must be a student who is eligible to get HB (see below), your accommodation must be eligible for HB (see here) and you must satisfy the basic HB rules (see here). As new claims cannot usually be made (see above for exceptions), most students do not get HB. If you cannot claim HB, you may be able to get help with your rent through universal credit (UC – see Chapter 9).

Full-time students

If you are a full-time student ‘attending or undertaking a full-time course of study’, you cannot normally get HB.1 However, there are exceptions for some students.

You start being a student from the first day you attend or undertake the course. You stop being a student after the last day of the final academic term in which you are enrolled, or from the day you finally abandon your course or are dismissed from it.2

Reference

Who counts as a full-time student

In most cases, you are treated as a full-time student if your college or university says your course is full time.

You count as a full-time student if you are undertaking a full-time course of study at an educational establishment. There are two definitions of ‘full time’ that apply: the first covers mostly courses of advanced education; the second covers most courses of non-advanced education:3

  • Your course is full time if it is classed as full time by the institution. If the institution describes the course as full time, you need convincing evidence to persuade the DWP otherwise, bearing in mind that what matters is the course itself rather than the hours you attend. This definition covers all courses of advanced education and any courses of non-advanced education not funded in whole or in part by the Scottish government at a further education (FE) college.
  • Your course is full time if it involves more than 16 hours a week classroom or workshop learning under the direct guidance of teaching staff, or at least 21 hours of structured study time, even if this involves no more than 16 hours of classroom/workshop learning. What matters is the number of hours specified in a document signed by the college. This is often called a ‘learning agreement’, but your college may refer to it by some other name. This definition applies if you are at an FE college, not undertaking a higher education course, and your course is fully or partly funded by the Scottish government. Courses funded by the Scottish government include school qualifications like National Qualifications from Access level to Advanced Higher, Scottish Vocational Qualifications and National Certificates.

Guidance states that postgraduates stop being treated as full-time students for HB purposes when their course ends. If you go on to do further research or write up a thesis, whether or not you are regarded as full time depends on how much study you are doing at the time, not on whether the course is full time.4

You are full-time if you are on a sandwich course that consists of alternate periods of full-time study at your educational institution and periods of industrial, professional or work experience organised so that, taking the course as a whole, you attend the periods of full-time study for an average of at least 18 weeks in each year.

If you are on a modular course that consists of two or more modules, and your college or university requires you to successfully complete a specific number of modules before it considers you to have completed the course, and you are currently attending part of a modular course that would be classed as a full-time course, you are treated as a full-time student. This applies for the period beginning on the day your course is defined as a full-time course and ending on the last day on which you are registered with your college or university as attending or undertaking that part of your course. This includes any vacations, unless that vacation follows the last day you are required to attend or undertake your course, or such earlier date that you finally abandon or are dismissed from that part of the course. If you have failed examinations or failed to complete a module, any period you attend or undertake the course to retake those examinations or modules is classed as part of the full-time course and you are treated as a full-time student (even if your college or university registers you as a part-time student during your resit period).

Note: if you take time out of a complete ‘part’ of a modular course, you may not count as undertaking a course during this time.5

Reference

Who can get housing benefit

You are eligible for HB as a full-time student if you are in one of the following groups.6

  • You are under 21 on a full-time course of non-advanced education (see here) (benefit can continue if you turn 21 on your course, but it stops once you turn 22), or you are a child or qualifying young person for child benefit purposes (see Chapter 3), even if no one gets child benefit for you.7 Note: if you are a care leaver and are aged 16 or 17, you cannot get HB, even if you come into one of the groups below, because the local authority should be supporting you.
  • You are on UC and are not eligible for help with housing costs within UC – ie, because you are in specified or temporary accommodation.8
  • You are a lone parent of a child under 16, or under 20 if they are still a qualifying young person (see here).
  • You or your partner have reached pension age. Pension age is gradually increasing from age 66 from April 2026. For more details, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook.
  • You qualify for a disability premium or severe disability premium with your HB – eg, you get adult disability payment or are certified as severely sight impaired or blind. Note: you cannot qualify for a disability premium if you have limited capability for work (LCW).9
  • You have had LCW for the last 28 weeks and you continue to have LCW. This must be LCW determined under the ESA regulations, rather than for UC. You should claim new-style ESA to have your LCW acknowledged (although you do not have to get any ESA to qualify). You can add together weeks of LCW on either side of a gap of up to 12 weeks.
  • You get a disabled students’ allowance because of deafness. You are eligible for HB from the date you apply for the allowance.10 However, if you are still waiting to hear about the allowance, the local authority may postpone making a decision on your HB claim, but it should then fully backdate your benefit.11
  • You are in a couple, your partner is also a full-time student and you have a dependent child under 16, or under 20 if they are a qualifying young person (see here). If your partner is not a student, they can get HB for both of you, whether or not you have a child.
  • You are single and caring for a child boarded out with you by the social work department.
  • You are taking time out of your course in certain circumstances (see here).

Reference
References
  • 1

    Regs 53(1), definition of ‘full-time student’, and 56(1) HB Regs

  • 2

    Reg 53(1), definition of ‘last day of the course’, and (2)(b) HB Regs

  • 3

    Reg 53(1), definition of ‘full-time course of study’, HB Regs

  • 4

    para 2.354 C2 GM

  • 5

    RVS v SSWP [2019] UKUT 102 (AAC)

  • 6

    Reg 56(2) HB Regs

  • 7

    Reg 56(2)(h) HB Regs

  • 8

    Reg 56(2)(aa) HB Regs

  • 9

    Sch 3 paras 12 and 13(9) HB Regs

  • 10

    Reg 56(2)(i) HB Regs

  • 11

    para 2.30 C2 GM

Studying part time

You can get HB throughout your studies. You must meet all the basic rules below, including being liable for rent and being in eligible accommodation. You are a part-time student if you do not count as a full-time student under the definition on here.

3. Basic rules

As well as being a student who is eligible to claim housing benefit (HB – see here), you must also meet all the following conditions to qualify.

  • You are liable to pay rent. If you are jointly liable for the rent with others (eg, you have each signed the tenancy agreement), the amount of HB you get is based on your share of the rent (although, less commonly, it may not be an equal share if that seems reasonable to the local authority). If you are in a couple, it does not matter whose name is on the rent agreement; either of you can claim. So if you are a student who is eligible for HB, you can claim for both of you, or if you are not eligible for HB, your non-student partner can claim for both of you.
  • You pay rent for the home in which you normally live.
  • Your accommodation is eligible for HB.
  • You satisfy the ‘habitual residence’ and ‘right to reside’ tests and are not a ‘person subject to immigration control’. These terms are explained in CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook. Overseas students can get further advice from UKCISA (see Appendix 2).
  • You have no more than £16,000 capital. There is no capital limit if you are getting pension credit guarantee credit.
  • Your income is sufficiently low (see Chapter 13).

This is a brief outline of the basic HB rules. For more details, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook.