Derek
Thanks very much. I agree that we should not be giving them any more information
than is necessary. I feel uncomfortable even confirming the address because it is only
the address that the student has given to us; we don't actually verify that the student is
living there. Our certificates state that the address has been provided by the student.
Andy
Andy,
We have never experienced this problem. Our certificates merely state that
the student is a full time student, their start date and expected end date,
and the address that the certificate applies to. This has always sufficed
in the past, and is all that the Council has a right to know.
I would be wary of adding any further information, Data Protection-wise.
What they must bear in mind is that the issue of Council Tax is one between
the student and the Council - we just verify the facts for them. We do get
students who ask us to verify that they are exempt, which we can't do, of
course.
We have had a request from a nearby council that we send them an electronic
file of all students and their addresses. Again, for DPA reasons, we
refused to do this.
Hope this helps
Derek.
_________________________________
Derek Ord
Head of Student Administrative Services
Integrated Student Services
University of Hull
(01482) 465980
-----Original Message-----
From: Admin-student [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Andy
Robinson
Sent: 10 December 2004 14:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Council tax certificates
Dear Colleagues
We have been experiencing a problem with some local authorities recently.
When we issue a certificate of attendance to a student to claim a reduction
in council
tax, a number of those certificates are being returned to us as
unnacceptable by some
authorities.
They insist on some really odd requirements or they will not accept the
certificate.
For example, we have recently had one returned by Southwark which indicates
that we
must display the College's charity registration number and that we must
indicate
specifically how many hours a student studies. We have only ever stated
that a
programme is full-time or part-time; full-time is assumed to be 40 hours per
week.
However, Southwark have indicated that simply stating full-time on a
certificate no
longer satisfies their requirements.
I have spoken to the local authority to try to communicate to them that some
of what
they require cannot really be certified, but it seems to fall on deaf ears.
Has anyone else been experiencing this problem? Have you amended your
certificate
templates as a result of local authorities' requirements? If so, what
amendments have
you made?
Many thanks
Andy
____________________________
Andy Robinson BSc PhD
Senior Assistant Registrar
Student Administration Office
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
E1 4NS
Phone: 020-7882 5549
Fax: 020-7882 7810
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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