Council Tax Support
Many people are eligible for Council Tax discounts, including full-time students. Most full-time students do not
have to pay council tax if everyone in the property is a student. If you live with one other person who is not a
student, you may be eligible for a council tax discount. Find discounts with your local council and how to apply for them here.
Pension Credit
If you are a full-time student over 66 (having reached this age before 6 April 2016) and you have a low income,
you may be eligible for Pension Credit. This is a means-tested benefit and has two parts, guarantee pension
credit and savings pension credit. You may be able to get one or both parts depending on your financial
circumstances.
Find out eligibility criteria,
including any differences in eligibility if you have a partner,
what you could get, and
how to make a
claim. You can also find out how to report a change of circumstances which you must do immediately
to ensure that you do not receive an overpayment.
Personal Independent Payment (PIP)
This can help with extra costs if you have a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability or if
you experienced difficulty doing everyday tasks and getting around because of your condition. There are two
parts to PIP – a daily living allowance and a mobility allowance, you may be eligible for one or both
parts. Find out more about how PIP works here.
You can also find the eligibility criteria for
PIP, how much you
could get, and how to make a
claim. You can also find out how to report a change of circumstances which you must do immediately to ensure that you
do not receive an overpayment.
New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) – If you are a full-time student, you are only eligible for
this if:
- You are a lone parent
- You are attending a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) related course or scheme for a limited period.
You can find out the eligibility
criteria for JSA, how to make an application, what you can expect from an interview and your claim, as well as how to
report a
change of circumstances which you should do as soon as possible to avoid an overpayment.
Students with Children, Caring Responsibilities, or Dependent Adults
If you have anyone who depends on you, you may be eligible for additional financial support. Find out about this
on our Students with Dependents webpage.
You can also find a list of other benefits available to full-time students here.
How can Your Advice Service help you?
As a service, we do not specialise in benefits. We can help by carrying out a basic assessment with you of what
benefits you may be eligible for and in briefly outlining the application process, including providing advice on
what documentation you may need and how to access this.
For support, you can contact us by completing an Enquiry Form.
For specialised benefit support however, we would recommend that you contact your local branch of Citizens Advice. You can also find information on Benefits on Citizens
Advices’ webpages which may be able to answer some of your questions.