Council tax and student taking a year out of their course

[TheAnnoyingSatsuma]

DC (student) shares with one other. Their housemate was due to do a placement year but didn’t find anything, so has decided to take a year out anyway before returning to their course in Sept 2027. So they are technically still enrolled at uni but will be working.

Has anyone had experience of a similar scenario and know if the property remains exempt from council tax? Thank you.

Look at the rules on the councils web site. It’s difficult to see how they are a student when not studying. Most who don’t get a placement just go back to the course and continue it. How has this student negotiated a year off? Is the work related to the course at all?

My council says if one occupier is working but the others are students, it’s a 25% discount. They also say they must be full time students so I would take this to mean actually studying. All students studying there’s no Council tax to pay. The best outcome where I live would be the 25% discount. So the decision to work looks expensive for the household.

That person won’t be exempt. If they are only none student they’ll get a 25% discount. If it’s a big house it could be a lot of money.

My council does not consider council tax on an individual basis. It’s a joint discount for the property. This gives rise to the issue as to who pays! It’s an expensive decision. The young person is not in full time education.

Placement years count because usually the student remains in touch with the uni. There will be a lecturer who monitors what is happening and sometimes the student needs to submit a report or similar at the end. Reduced fees are usually paid to the uni.
In your situation, the student has suspended his studies and is therefore not a student, which makes the house liable for Council tax, to be paid by the occupiers. However, as the other students are exempt from paying, I would hope that the individual would claim the single person reduction and cover the cost themselves.

My DDs course didn’t do a placement year but allowed students to suspend studies for a year to take up work opportunities. My DD was still considered a student by uni and council (Edinburgh) confirmed not liable for council tax (she worked the entire year). There was a formal process to suspend your studies.

Thanks everyone, you’ve all been very helpful. It seems that the key is having a formal suspension of studies in place and for this to be acceptable to the local council.

Another one who had DC in Edinburgh who were good to accept a one year out and not charge for that year.
The next year, when a working person moved in for 5 months however they did ring up a full charge on a 6-bed Band G property....guess why working adult moved out again quick sharp...

Dd took a year out (health issues) with agreement of her uni. She initially ended up paYing council tax as she was told so by her uni.
Only after online search, including looking at information at my ds uni, did we realise she did NOT need to pay council tax, but her uni needed to provide a letter saying she was officially still a student.

I'd suggest getting a screenshot of something they're saying they're enrolled for the coming year before they cancel, then you can give that as evidence for the student discount.

For my DD’s uni the student fills in online to say exempt but the council then contacts the uni for proof of who is enrolled for the exemption.

This depends on the wording used by the council. Mine says “must be in full time education” - suspended studies is not that. So it’s not a standard situation that a letter from the uni means anything. If dc is not in full time education, but working, and not on a supervised placement, “education” is not taking place because it’s suspended.

Citizens Advice bureau had some information regarding this.
If you're taking time off from your course
As a full-time student, you might need to take some time out from your course, for example, because of an illness or family commitments.
If you suspend your course but remain registered because you intend to go back, you should still be regarded as a student for the purposes of council tax.

How are the council going to find out unless they recheck every year. How do they know exactly who is living at the house unless you tell them? Council tax is already a scam for single people and for one person to pay for a house occupied by 4 is wrong.

in many cases the councils do check every year - and often the Universities provide the information direct to the councils to save huge numbers of letters being provided as used to happen in the past (students will have given permission for this when they register , though they may not remember they have done so !).

Yes at my DD’s uni city they check every year. Uni deals with everything if in their own student halls. Yr2 Private rental house the council tax bill was on mat when dd moved in. She had to apply for exemption online and the council contact the uni to verify. Long story short her yr2 flatmate had failed and not enrolled at uni for yr2 (lying to everyone) and what outed her was the court process re the council tax in November.