Council Tax discount..they say not entitled!

pulliptears

Can anyone shed any light on this? My husband telephoned our local council for the form to apply for the discount. The lady he spoke to asked a few questions including "Is this a full time course?" He told her it was and she asked how many hours, he told her it was 15.

They are now saying the discount is only for students studying above 20 hours! Is this correct? My college has the course down as full time, and to be honest very few of their courses run to 20 hours.

Ive applied for the form again online, Ill fill it in and see what happens, but Im so annoyed! I was really hoping for this discount as family circumstances have turned on me in the last fortnight meaning Im now not going to be able to get the part time job Id hoped for :mad:
Jane
x

ts_aly2000

If he's full time he gets the discount. 15-hours I think is the cut off point. I've never heard of this 20-hours.

When we were students we just ignored the council. 9-months later there'd be a knock on the door from baliffs, "We're students and the council were told when we moved in," and then we'd never hear another thing from them. It seemed they weren't at all surprised.

Councils are notorious for being incredibly crap for want of a better word.

God this is so depressing, everything I'm saying at the moment is negative. Crap this, terrible that, don't bother with them. But it is. Why can't anyone get anything right? It's cos they're crap isn't it?

btw. The college decides who's full time, not the council. It may be worth approaching the college/university housing person to get the form stamped and alike.

pulliptears

Thanks! Its actually me whos the student, its just DH that makes all the calls for me, like me own little secretary lol

I start on the 20th so ill take the form in and have a word with my tutor. Im not elidgable for any help because DH earns too much, what they dont factor into that though is the fact Im supporting 2 kids and paying a mortgage etc.

The plan was I was going to find something in between my lectures, but my Dad has been taken ill again meaning I will have to do a great deal of running around for my mum who cant drive. Im an only child so Im the only one to do all the work really. Not that I mind obviously, it just means that my already limited time will be a little more packed.

ts_aly2000

Sorry to hear about your Dad. Mine is ill too

Just see how it goes with this council tax thing. You may, I think, be entitled to a 25% discount. I've seen it on some of the Student threads. If there's one working adult and one student.

melancholly

You can usually get a letter that says you are on a full time course to show the council. This happens with a lot of students every year so if you turn up to student support after you start they can print one out for you to send to the council (tutors aren't always that good at practicalities like this unfortunately!).

Karnam

total lie. my course is full time and is only 8 hours a week. this is not the actual time the university quote. this varies from course to course.

just get a council tax exemption certifcate from uni and give it to the council tax people.

guerillasaver

Karnam wrote:

total lie. my course is full time and is only 8 hours a week. this is not the actual time the university quote. this varies from course to course.

just get a council tax exemption certifcate from uni and give it to the council tax people.

what course are you doing that only does 8 hours a week?

Karnam

english. its 8 hours contact time and technically 40 hours preparation time. might sound easy but it means ive got to read 8 books a week.

history is similar, 4 hours a week.

DrFluffy

guerillasaver wrote:

what course are you doing that only does 8 hours a week?

Are you doing a full-time course or a part-time course. COntact hours aren't the defining issue, hence the same degree may have a different code if taken full time or part time...

sgx.saint

I would just get a letter of exemption from the University and take it to your local council offices. That way you should get your 25% discount entitlement without any questions.

Karnam

DrFluffy wrote:

Are you doing a full-time course or a part-time course. COntact hours aren't the defining issue, hence the same degree may have a different code if taken full time or part time...

i did already say it was a full time course with 8 hours contact time.

please read throughly and not just skim read.