Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

School leaving age

You can leave school on the last Friday in June if you'll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays.

You must then do one of the following until you're 18:

stay in full-time education, such as go to college
start an apprenticeship or traineeship
work or volunteer (for 20 hours or more a week) while in part-time education or training

If you are 16 to 19, you can apply for help with your education costs such as clothing, equipment and books. See Gov.uk: know when you can leave school for more information.

Offsite links

Gov.uk: know when you can leave school