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Under 20 in further education

You are regarded as a student for council tax purposes if you are aged under 20 and on a further education (FE) course of more than 12 hours a week, that lasts more than three months.2

An FE course is one below the level of a degree, Higher National Certificate (HNC), Higher National Diploma (HND) or Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) level 4. It includes National Qualifications to Advanced Higher level, A levels and National Certificates. It does not include:

• further training of teachers or youth or community workers;3
• evening classes;4
• correspondence courses;5
• courses attended if you are a trainee on a youth training course or an apprentice.6

The hours that count are those required by the course rather than those you actually do, if they are different.

To work out your hours, average out over term times the hours required under the course for tuition, supervised study, exams, and supervised exercise, experiment, project and practical work.7 You can add together hours spent on more than one course if these are all at the same college.8

You are regarded as a student for each day from the day you start the course until the day you complete it, abandon it or are dismissed from it.9 So you count as a student during term times, during short vacations at Christmas and Easter and during the summer if your course continues after the summer. If your course ends in the summer and you begin a different one in the autumn, you do not count as a student in the summer between courses.10 However, you may be able to get a discount (see here).

Under 20 in higher education

The rules are the same as those for people aged 20 or over (see below).

20 or over in further or higher education

If you are aged 20 or over, you are regarded as a student for council tax purposes if the course requires you to undertake periods of study, tuition or work experience of at least 24 weeks each academic year, for an average of at least 21 hours a week.11 This includes distance learning.

To count as a student, you must be enrolled on a course with an educational institution. You are a student from the day you begin the course until the day you complete it, abandon it or are no longer permitted by the educational institution to attend.12 So if you take time out and are not enrolled on the course during this period, you do not count as a student for council tax purposes and may become liable for council tax. If this is the case, check whether you can get council tax reduction (see here). On the other hand, if you take time out but are still enrolled on the course, you continue to count as a student, provided you have not abandoned it completely and the institution has not said you can no longer attend the course. Because the law says you are not a student if you are ‘no longer permitted by the institution to attend’, this suggests that your dismissal from the course must be final. So you could argue that if you are temporarily suspended from the course but still registered, you still count as a student.

Your college or university determines the number of hours. You may need evidence from it to prove to the local authority that you count as a student. Colleges and universities are required to provide you with a certificate if you ask for one while you are a student or up to a year after you leave the course.13 After that, they may still give you a certificate, but they are not legally required to do so. The certificate must contain:14

• the name and address of the institution; and
• your full name; and
• your term-time address and home address (if known by the institution); and
• a statement that you are (or were) a student – ie, that you are enrolled on a course requiring attendance of at least 24 weeks a year and study of at least 21 hours a week; and
• the date you became a student and the date your course ends.

Articulating or direct entry students

You count as a student if you have finished an HNC or HND course and have an offer of a place directly into the second or third year of a degree course.15 To qualify, if you have completed a full-time HNC course in the last six months, you must have an offer of a place in the second year of a full-time degree course starting within this period. The same applies if you have completed a full-time HND course in the last six months, except that the offer must be of a place in the third year of a full-time degree course. See above for the definition of ‘full-time course’.

If you meet these rules but do not start the degree course, you do not count as a student for the period between the courses.

Couples

Normally, couples who live together are jointly liable for the council tax. Students, however, are exempt from this rule. If you are a student and have a non-student partner who is liable for council tax, you are not jointly liable with them.2

From the start of your ill health

If you have paid sufficient NI contributions in recent years, you are eligible for new-style employment and support allowance (ESA) after seven ‘waiting days’ (see Chapter 4).

From three months

You can claim adult disability payment (ADP) if you need help getting around or with daily living activities because of a disability. You are eligible for this after 13 weeks if your disability is likely to last at least another 39 weeks.

You can claim UC if you get ADP or child disability payment (CDP) and had limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) before you started receiving education (see here). This means a determination that you have LCW/LCWRA for UC or new-style ESA or that you are treated as having LCW/LCWRA for UC. You can claim new-style ESA in order to establish that you have LCW/LCWRA (although you do not have to get any ESA to qualify in this way). Once you are found to have LCW/LCWRA for ESA (and you also get ADP or CDP), you are then eligible for UC as long as you had or were treated as having LCW/LCWRA before you started receiving education. These rules mean that if you first become ill while on your course (while receiving education), then you cannot get UC on this basis while on that course.

From 28 weeks

Once you have had LCW for 28 weeks, you can claim HB to help with your rent (if you can make a new claim for this - see here).

The 28-week period runs from the day your LCW begins, not from the day you leave your course. See here for how LCW is assessed. You do not need to have been working to count as having LCW. Note: you can have LCW but still be able to study, so HB can continue when you return to college or university.

Once you have recovered

Once you have recovered, you may need to wait some time to be readmitted to your course. During this time you can claim UC (or HB if you can make a new claim – see here).2

You can claim for up to one year from the day you recover until the day the college or university agrees you can return to your course. You are not eligible if you get a grant or loan during this time. Once the student support stops, you can claim benefit.

If you meet the qualifying conditions for new-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), and are not eligible for a student loan or grant, you can claim this while waiting to return to your course (see here).

Student support

Although payment of your student loan can be suspended after 60 days’ absence because of ill health, Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) has the discretion to continue to pay you until the end of the academic year.

Your college or university should tell SAAS the reason you have suspended your studies.

If you need to repeat a year for health reasons, discretionary repeat-year funding may be available. Alternatively, you may get funding for one extra year for whatever reason, although this depends on your previous study.

If you select the repeat-year funding box on your application, SAAS contacts you to tell you if it needs additional information.

If you take time out from your course because of ill health and are not paid a student loan during this time, the unpaid student loan is arguably not counted as notional income for UC and HB, because payment of it is discretionary.

From the start of your ill health

If you are already getting UC, you can submit a fit note if you become ill or disabled.

You can claim new-style ESA if you have paid sufficient NI contributions.

From three months

You can claim ADP if you need help getting around or with daily living activities because of a disability. You are eligible for this after 13 weeks if your disability is likely to last at least another 39 weeks.

Once you have recovered

You can claim UC (or, sometimes, new-style JSA - see here).

Courses starting in the autumn term lasting more than a year

The student loan for maintenance is divided over the number of weeks starting from the first day of the first benefit week in September until the last day of the last benefit week in June.1 In 2026/27, this is 42 weeks for benefit weeks that begin on a Monday (for HB, the benefit week always starts on a Monday).2 If your course starts in August, you count the weeks starting from the first day of the first benefit week on or after the start of your course, until the last day of the last benefit week in June.

This is the period over which your loan is taken into account as income in the benefit assessment, unless you do not count as a student at all. For example, at the start of your first year, you do not count as being a student until you actually start attending or undertaking the course. In other words, in the first year the loan is still divided over 42/43 weeks, but the weekly amount arrived at is ignored as income until you start your course.3

In the final year of study, the loan is divided over the number of benefit weeks starting from the first day of the first benefit week in September (or the start of the first term if it starts in August) until the end of the benefit week on or before the last day of the final academic term.4

Courses not starting in the autumn term

Your student loan for maintenance is divided over the number of weeks starting from the first day of the first benefit week on or after the beginning of a standard academic year (see here), and ending on the last day of the last benefit week on or before the last day of the academic year, but excluding benefit weeks that fall entirely within the quarter that is taken by the DWP to be the longest vacation.5

Courses lasting one year or less

Your loan for maintenance is divided over the number of weeks from the first day of the first benefit week on or after the start of a standard academic year (see here) (or, if a course begins in August, from the first day of the first benefit week on or after the first day of the course) until the last day of the last benefit week on or before the last day of the course. The weekly amount that results is then taken into account from the point you actually start attending or undertaking the course.7

If you leave your course early

If you abandon your course early or are dismissed from it before you have had the final instalment of your student loan in that academic year, the loan continues to be taken into account up until the day before you would have been due your next loan payment or to the end of the quarter (see above) in which you left, whichever is earlier.8 This means that if your loan payments stop shortly after you leave the course, they are only taken into account (and affect any benefits) for a short period.

To calculate the amount of loan taken into account, start by working out the weekly amount of annual loan, with disregards for books, equipment and travel but without the £10 weekly disregard. Then, subtract this amount of weekly loan for the period from the start of the standard academic year (see here) to the day you left from the amount of loan (minus the £693 disregards) you have been paid so far. The result is then divided over the weeks from when you left to when your next instalment would have been due or the end of the quarter, whichever is earlier.

The standard rule for grants

If the standard rule applies, the grant is taken into account from:1

• the first day of the first benefit week (see here) on or after the start of the course in the first or only year; or
• the first day of the first benefit week on or after that year’s start of your course if this is not your first year;

until:

• the last day of the last benefit week that ends on or before the day before the summer vacation if the course continues after the summer; or
• the last day of the last benefit week on or before the last day of the final academic term in the final year or on a course lasting a year or less.

The standard rule applies if your grant income is ‘attributable’ to those weeks. Even though you may be paid your grant monthly, if your grant has been awarded for the whole academic year or length of study, it should be taken into account in this way. You may need to ask your college for a statement showing your annual grant entitlement. This statement should break down the grant into the different allowances so that the local authority can apply the correct disregards when working out how much benefit you should get.

If your grant has not been awarded for the whole academic year or length of study, it is taken into account over the period for which it is payable, from the first day of the first benefit week on or after the start of the period for which the grant is payable until the last day of the last benefit week on or before the last day of that period.2

Higher education grants

For higher education students, the lone parents’ grant is taken into account over the same period as the student loan if you have a student loan or you are eligible for one.3 This is the case even though the Student Awards Agency Scotland guide says that the grant covers 52 weeks.

Paramedic, nursing and midwifery bursaries

Your bursary, dependants’ allowance and single parents’ allowance, if assessed for study throughout the calendar year, are taken into account for the number of benefit weeks within the full calendar year. Otherwise, the award is taken into account under the standard rule for grants (see here).

Further education grants

Your bursary is only taken into account as income during the academic year.

The bursary maintenance allowance and dependants’ allowance are taken into account under the standard rule for grants (see here).

Postgraduate funding

A postgraduate award that is assessed for study throughout the calendar year is taken into account for the number of benefit weeks in the full calendar year.4 Otherwise, the award is taken into account under the standard rule for grants (see here).

Postgraduate living cost loans are taken into account under the standard rule for loans (see here). The special support loan is ignored, because it is for course costs. Students on a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education course may get the same student loan and grants as undergraduates, and these are treated in the same way as undergraduate loans and grants.

If you leave your course early

Your grant is taken into account until the grant provider asks you to repay it and, until then, should be calculated over an appropriate period.5 Arguably, your grant should only be taken into account as income until the end of the period your last instalment was meant to cover.

Lump-sum payments

Lump-sum payments are taken into account as capital if they are intended and used for food, ordinary clothing or footwear, household fuel, rent met by housing benefit (HB), council tax or water charges.2 Payments for anything else are ignored for up to 52 weeks. Although taken into account as capital, such payments only affect your benefit if they bring your capital above the lower limit (see here). Payments for school uniforms or sports clothes or sports shoes are ignored, as these do not count as ‘ordinary clothing or footwear’. Payments for service charges other than fuel charges that HB does not meet are ignored. Payments for rent in excess of the amount that HB will meet are ignored – eg, if your rent is more than the maximum amount covered by HB (see here).

Regular payments

Regular payments are taken into account as income if they are intended and used for food, ordinary clothing or footwear, household fuel, rent met by HB, and council tax or water charges.3 However, up to £20 a week is disregarded. You cannot get the £20 disregard in full as well as the full weekly disregards available on a student loan, so your maximum weekly disregard is £20.

For example, if you have a student loan and regular payments from the HE discretionary fund, £10 a week is disregarded from each.

Regular payments intended and used for anything else, such as childcare or travel expenses, are completely disregarded.

Payments before a course starts or before a loan is paid

A payment from the discretionary fund made before the course starts is always ignored as income even if it is for living costs. A payment made before you get the first instalment of your student loan, if it is intended to tide you over until your loan is paid, is ignored as income.

Voluntary or charitable payments

Regular voluntary or charitable payments are usually ignored for HB. However, regular voluntary or charitable payments in the form of an educational grant count as income.1 If paid as a lump sum, the payment is taken into account as capital whatever it is intended for.