Please, please help - ex-Student seeking benefits.

JamesLB · 26 June 2006 at 12:07PM

Hello,

I am desperately in need of help.

I have fallen very ill and have been forced to take a year's Leave of Absence from my University course.

Because of this, my Student Loan has been stopped (they have even asked me to repay some).

I was living in private accommodation at £260/month which I cannot get out of.

I am too ill to work otherwise I would (actually, I'd have stayed at University if I was well enough to work) and have no income.

I have applied for benefits but have been rejected:

1) Income Support - because technically I am still a full-time student.
2) Incapacity Benefit - because I have not contributed enough National Insurance (I am only 21).
3) Housing Benefit - because I am technically a full-time student.

I began applying for these in February and only now am I receiving the final letters saying my claims have been unsuccessful. Up until now I have relied on family to pay my monthly rent, and friends to pay for my living expenses - e.g. food and utility bills.

I am totally at a loss as to what to do and I now have no idea how I am going to pay next month's bill. To make matters worse, my father died, totally unexpectedly (and as of yet, totally inexplicably) last month and I really feel like I am helpless.

If anyone can advise me on what to do, or how to convince the Benefits people that I am eligible for something, I cannot put into words how grateful I would be.

Thank-you,

James.

missk_ensington · 26 June 2006 at 12:22PM

I'm not an expert, but I think you would have to prove you have left your course in order to qualify. What about the grants/loans you received in April?

Also, if you Dad has died your Student Finance needs to be re-calculated, and I would expect it's going to be in your favour as their household income will be reduced.

In the short term, you need to apply for a Hardship Loan via your Student Support Office, and the Access to Learning Fund (I received £1500 from them the other day, its non-repayable). You can repay your emergency loan from the ALF pay out. If you're situation in genuine there is no doubt that they will give you something.

What year of study are you?

clairehi · 26 June 2006 at 12:41PM

Hi

the University student advice centre (or similar) should be able to help you on the financial side.

I was in a similar situation to you. I was advised that to qualify for income support you have to have abandoned your course. however it is possible to tell them this while still having agreed with the university that they will hold your place open if you are well enough to return next year.

possibly you could reapply stating that circumstances have changed and you have now abandoned your studies due to ill health.

really sorry about your dad.

Fran · 26 June 2006 at 1:18PM

Hi James,

CRUSE might be of some help to you regarding your bereavement.

The best thing you can do is take advice from your local Citizens Advice Bureau and also your college Students Union. CAB will know all about entitlement to benefits and SU will be able to advise the best course of action regarding your course and student finance.

If you are too ill to leave the house, you should find out if your local CAB do home visits or ask someone to go on your behalf, having given them a letter authorising them to do so.

While some people on this forum may have up to date knowledge about various aspects of this, it is not guaranteed that you are receiving the best advice on a forum, so I would strongly recommend you sort this out through CAB and SU.

Good luck.

JamesLB · 26 June 2006 at 1:42PM

Thanks for all your advice - I am in my second year of university.

I have contacted both my Student Support Office (who have given me an Access to Learning application letter) as well as the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Unfortunately, I seem to have expended the advice that the CAB can give me, as they agree that i "slip through the gap" when it comes to benefits entitelment and "wish me the best of luck" when I apply for Disability Living Allowance - even though it is unlikely that i will be awarded this. I was told this over the phone with my adviser today which prompted my desperate plea on here for advice.

I simply cannot believe that there is no logical way out of this and that there is no help available to someone in my situation.

missk_ensington · 26 June 2006 at 2:10PM

What is the nature of your illness? DLA is awarded based on HOW it affects your day to day life, not WHAT it is. You could have a brain tumour or liver failure, but unless costs are incurred by your condition you probably won't get it. It is supposed to pay for carers and things like that.

Get your ALF application in, they are pretty good and process quickly. Mine was done in 2 weeks! Have you enquired about short term emergency loan from your student support office?

MissKx

Fran · 26 June 2006 at 3:27PM

clairehi wrote:

Hi

the University student advice centre (or similar) should be able to help you on the financial side.

I was in a similar situation to you. I was advised that to qualify for income support you have to have abandoned your course. however it is possible to tell them this while still having agreed with the university that they will hold your place open if you are well enough to return next year...........

James, have you looked into this? Perhaps you will need to speak to the college about your specific situation, tell them you have no income so you are going to be forced to leave the course, but you really want to be able to join the course again. Then get help from CAB with an appeal with the original decisions on IB/IS/HousingBen. You have a month in which to appeal from the date of the last decision you received. (Presumably three different dates?). In order to qualify for IS you have to apply for IB and be told you are not entitled, which it seems you have already, so IS is the one to go for (for reason of sickness, otherwise you would be expected to claim Jobseekers Allowance).

Another avenue of help you might try is Shelter, they might have some info re the housing situation.

Sillychuckie · 26 June 2006 at 7:14PM

If you drop out of uni, you are no longer a student.
I did it last year by just writing to the university. I wanted to take a gap year, asked them, and within a week (even though I had already recevied my university loan - and continued to do so throughout the year because the uni didn't tell the loan people), I didn't have student status.
I started to apply for benefits and it all seemed to be going ok, but then I suddenly landed myself a job so it became irrelevant.
I don't get why they still see you as a student.
Write a letter to your uni asking to leave the course. Ensure you are not enrolled into any exams and try to reclaim some of the tuition fees.
They should be more than happy to confirm in writing you are no longer a student there.

chugalug · 28 June 2006 at 5:32PM

Before taking the advice about dropping out of university in order to take a year off you need to see how this affects your student funding via the student loan company or your LA. I remember there being a reason why this would cause problems but can't remember why this was. Check thoroughly cos if you fall through the net for future student funding you'll be in big trouble.

hostie · 1 July 2006 at 1:18PM

For some immediate help apply to the access to funding office at your university.

Make sure that you 'defer' the payment of your student loan due to insufficient income. Once you do this you do not have to worry about it. If you go back to University next year it will be deferred again. I withdrew from uni for similar reasons and didn't defer my student loans. That was my big mistake as the interest piled on. I was entitled to benefits as I told them that I was no longer a student. I think you might not have been clear enough in your forms that you were no longer a student. You might want to get proof from the university that you have withdrawn and then send a letter with the proof contesting the benefits decision. That way, if you are entitled to benefits, they should be backdated to when you originally applied.

In my case the uni said that I had a maximum of five years within which I had to return and complete my course or my credits would expire.

Don't feel bad about accepting help from friends and family. It is at a time like this that you come to realise who your true friends are. It might be that you have to move home to live with your family if you have not already done so.

Try to look after yourself. Maybe go to the local library and get some nice self help books/ books that will help you de-stress.

Take care

curls · 2 July 2006 at 10:05AM

Have you looked into the 'Youth Rules' for Incapacity Benefit?

There is a qualifying period of 196 days but I see from your earlier posts that you have been poorly since at least February so perhaps will be entitled to something soon.
Thers is a special form for claiming - IB(Y)22 and below are some extracts from the notes I think may be pertinent:

Incapacity Benefit is available for young people who
- have been incapacitated early in life and
- are unable to work because of illness or disability,and
- have not paid anough NI contributions to be able to get Incapacity Benefit under the normal rules.

If you are aged 20 but under 25 you may be able to get Incapacity Benefit under the Youth Rules if
- you were registered on a course of full-time advanced or secondary education, or on a vocational or work-based training course, which began at least 3months before your 20th birthday
- you must have attended one or more such courses in the term immediately after registration and before the 197th day.
- you have been unable to work for at least 196 days in a continuous period. One of these days must be before your 25th birhday.

We use 'advanced education' to mean a course which prepares you for a degree, a higher education diploma, a higher national diploma, a higher national diploma of the Business and Technician Education Council; a teaching qualification, or a course above ordinary national diploma level.

Hope this will help

Please, please help - ex-Student seeking benefits.

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