§ Mr. David EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to assist full-time students who are jointly liable for the council tax because they share accommodation with non-students. [2766]
§ Mr. CurryAt present when a student shares accommodation with a recipient of council tax benefit their joint liability for council tax is higher than if each lived separately. We propose to end this anomaly by amending the council tax liability rules to exclude students from joint and several liability as soon as we have an opportunity to amend primary legislation.
As an interim measure my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Social Security, has submitted a proposal today to the Social Security advisory committee to amend the council tax benefit rules, with effect from 1 April 1997, so that where a full-time student is jointly liable with a benefit recipient their presence in the household will be ignored in the calculation of council tax benefit. This will have a similar effect to the longer-term solution.