Student Council Tax discount

To qualify as a student, you must either

  • study for 24 weeks for 21 hours per week in each academic year. Your University or College must also classify the course as full time
  • be a foreign language assistant working in a school or other educational establishment and be registered with the British Council
  • be under 20 years old and be studying for a non-advanced course for at least 12 hours a week for three months. Non-advanced courses include A levels, Highers, and Level 3 SVQs
  • be undertaking a research course or writing up a thesis or dissertation and your educational establishment, verified by the Registry Department, considers you still meet the legislative requirements for being a full time student.

Download Council Tax information for students (PDF 119 KB)

Amount of discount

We may offer

  • a 25% discount if all but one of the adults living at the property are students
  • a 100% exemption if the property is occupied solely by students.

This discount reduces your Council Tax, water and sewerage charges.

How to apply

Apply for a student Council Tax discount online. This will work for you if you have given your college or university permission to share your details with us and you study at

  • Edinburgh College
  • Heriot-Watt University
  • Queen Margaret University
  • Edinburgh Napier University
  • Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
  • University of Edinburgh (including Edinburgh College of Art).

If your college or university is not listed apply online and submit your student certificate as evidence of your student status by emailing it to Income and Benefits team 

incomeandbenefits@edinburgh.gov.uk.

Your discount will end when your course ends. This will normally be before your graduation date.

Apply for student Council Tax discount

Non-British national and student dependent

For Council Tax purposes, we treat you as a student if you are non-British and you are either the

  • spouse
  • civil partner
  • dependant

of a full time student. Your right of entry or residence is dependent on you not being allowed to work or having no recourse to public funds. To apply email your details to Income and Benefits team. We will need to see your passport and your visa for the UK. We regularly review all our Council Tax discount requests. We may ask you to provide more information or evidence.

incomeandbenefits@edinburgh.gov.uk

Foreign language assistants

We also treat you as a student if you work as a foreign language assistant in a school or other educational establishment and are registered with the British Council.

  1. Download and print the student council tax status confirmation form
  2. Ask your employer to to sign and stamp the completed form
  3. Send your registration certificate to the Council Tax team incomeandbenefits@edinburgh.gov.uk