Apprentices

The following criteria must apply for a person to be disregarded as an apprentice under Council Tax legislation.

They must meet all of the following criteria:

• employed for the purpose of learning a trade, business, profession, office, employment or vocation for that purpose undertaking a programme of training leading to a qualification accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
• employed at a salary, in receipt of an allowance or both (if the total is substantially less than the salary, they would be likely to receive if they had achieved the qualification in question)
• receiving no more than £195 per week

The Council Tax charge is based upon the number of people living in a dwelling. If you are “disregarded” as being an apprentice, it means that we do not count you when we work out the number of people living there.

• when counting the number of people living in a dwelling, if there is just one person living there, a 25% discount may be granted
• if all the residents at a dwelling are “disregarded” a 50% discount may be granted
• if there are two or more residents in a household who are not entitled to status discount, the discount will not apply and the full Council Tax charge will be payable

If you qualify, we will amend your account and send you a reduced bill.

You must tell us within 21 days about any change in circumstances that may affect your entitlement to the discount (e.g. the apprenticeship ends, or another adult moves into the house). Failure to do so may result in a penalty.

We will contact you periodically to confirm that you are still entitled to the disregard; however, you must still advise us of any changes in circumstance within 21 days.

Contact us

If you want to apply or have a question, use the Council Tax contact form and choose the following options:

• under ‘Which service would you like to contact us?’ select Council Tax
• under ‘What would you like to contact us about?’ select Something else