CITY council officers have refused to meet thousands of pounds-worth of housing benefit claims from Oxford Brookes university students.

The students now have six weeks in which to bring a test case appealing against the decision by Oxford City Council.

Council staff have been swamped with claims this term after Appeal Court judges ruled that Anthony Webber, a 24-year-old student at Oxford Brookes, should be entitled to income support. They argued his modular course could not be considered full-time - and therefore ineligible for benefits - because it was flexible.

Mike Slater, city council benefits service manager, said: "We are taking the view that they are in receipt of a grant as students on a full-time course of study whether it is modular or not.

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"We will use the same definition for the housing benefit regulations as for grants." He said that students taking a year out from their courses or part-time students who had previously studied full-time would now be eligible for benefits, after individual assessment.

Susan Harbour, a student welfare officer at Oxford Brookes, said the union was still awaiting formal notification from the council of its decision and was meanwhile taking legal advice.

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"If they turn students down flat we will challenge it," she said. "There is enough in the judgment of the Webber case for us to believe we have a strong case."

If a test case rules in favour of Oxford Brookes it could cost the Government millions of pounds in benefit claims from students in higher and further education.

A spokeswoman for the National Union of Students said the union would await the outcome of the Oxford Brookes test case before tackling the issue nationally.