Council tax exemption for young persons apprenticeship...Urgent help needed!!

[Wendz]

Hello all!
New to the site and seeking advice on a complex council tax issue. To briefly summarise....
I am a single parent who, along with my daughter became a full-time students at uni from 2015-2018. I also have another daughter who started college in 2015 after leaving school, however she dropped out in May 2016 (aged 17) and was looking for an apprenticeship. She finally found one in July 2017. (She didn't claim any benefits during this time,I supported her) It was a recognised apprenticeship which would lead to a qualification.

Due to being a single parent and a student nurse I was able to claim housing benefit and be exempt from paying council tax.
After I informed the council of my daughter starting an apprenticeship, showed her weekly pay (£120 per week) and filled in the relevant forms the council gave me, it came as a total shock to be informed she would have to pay council tax with a 25% reduction. They also deducted money from housing benefit. (which I had to make up from my £750 per month student bursary) Both amounts back-dated to when she left college in May 2016.I was charged £395.96 for 2016 and £856.54 for 2017.

My question is; Are the council acting legally charging a young apprentice council tax?
Are they allowed to make deductions from my housing benefit when I was a student nurse on a £750 per month bursary?
I have been fighting my case with the council on this for some time. I have sought help from citizens advice, I have searched the web for information but it seems to be a grey area

I am now faced with a Notice of Enforcement from Equita.
I have received so much disinformation from the council surrounding the matter, different figures, different discount statues etc.
Anybody out there who is able to offer advice, help or assistance would be very much appreciated!!

Thank you!!

[lgfa92]

Council Tax can be complicated (it's my area of business) but it's often just a case of trying to get a full handle on what is happening to try and tie it down.

My question is; Are the council acting legally charging a young apprentice council tax?

They shouldn't be being held liable for the council tax charge unless they are a joint owner or tenant with you (liable just means that there name is on the bill when it comes to who should be paying).

An apprentice on a qualifying course is disregarded for council tax purposes (exempt has a specific usage in council tax, not relevant here) and so is not taken in to account when the council tax charge for the household is calculated. The fact that there's a 25% discount would be correct for you being the sole adult who is not disregarded.

[lgfa92]

It's a long time since I dealt with any Housing Benefit but student bursary's are not always fully disregarded, some will count as income.