Anyone able to help? Council Tax query..
Client full time student currently unable to study due to sickness. Has not abandonded course. Client has CT arrears. Has provided student certificate covering her for duration of course. However, client has also provided CT section with letter from her university stating she is on an 'agreed period of intermission' (through to September 05) due to health problems. CT section now arguing client cannot be treated as full-time student during this period and therefore liable for CT. Client not currently able to claim any benefit as does not yet fall within disabled student rules.

My understanding is that until such time as client completes, abandons or is dismissed from course she is a full-time student and therefore should attract CT exemption- do you agree? If so, what is the relevant legislation? Have a feeling I'm going to need to quote chapter & verse on this one...

Thanks for any ideas/assistance.

Me again. Have found student definition stuff (Council Tax Discount Disregards Order 1992 SI 548 Schedule 1). Still need an opinion. Para 3 states:

'A person is to be regarded as undertaking a full time course of education on a particular day if- (b)the day falls within the period beginning on the the day on which he begins the course and ending with the day on which he ceases to undertake it, and a person is to be regarded as ceasing to undertake a course of education for the purpose of this paragraph if he has completed it, abandoned it or is no longer permitted by the educational establishment to attend it'.

So far, so good. However, Para 4 states:

'A full time course of education is..one (b) which persons undertaking it are normally required by the educational establishment concerned to attend for periods of at least 24 weeks in each academic year..and (c) the nature of which is such that a person undertaking it would normally require to undertake periods of study..which amount in each such academic year to an average of at least 21 hours per week..'

If my client is in an 'agreed period of intermission' can the CT dept. argue that she is not, therefore, 'normally required' to attend during that period, or is the purpose of Para 4 solely to establish whether the course is full-time or not? (in which case, it seems to me, as the client fulfils the conditions of Para 3 the status discount should be applied). Sorry- realise this is not an HB/CTB query as such (should probably have posted in 'other') but any opinions very welcome.

I would suggest that she should still be treated as a full-time student, as she is still enrolled on the course.

You may like to try e-mailing the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on

enquiryodpm@odpm.gsi.gov.uk

I e-mailed them recently with a Council Tax query, and they came back with an answer (the correct one, in my opinion!) 9 days later.

Thanks. Will give it a go!

She's certainly still a full-time student for HB/CTB purposes, and although CT and benefit rules are not necessarily consistent with each other, the issue of whether a course can be temporarily "abandoned" was done to death in (I believe) a Court of Appeal case concerning HB. The verdict was that "abandoned" meant for all time. It is certainly an argument to advance given that very similar terminolgy pops up in the CT regs.