Word of warning

[devildog]

When your student 'children' get their assessments through from Student Finance, do the calculations and make sure they are correct!
Each year when submitting income details I am informed that no evidence is required(personal pension contribs) and every year they send an assessment without deducting these contribs. The first year I missed this fact but since then I have checked every year and every year the same thing crops up!
If you don't check yourself then the student could be losing out.

[setmefree2]

Thanks devildog.

[mugwump]

Originally Posted by devildog

When your student 'children' get their assessments through from Student Finance, do the calculations and make sure they are correct!
Each year when submitting income details I am informed that no evidence is required(personal pension contribs) and every year they send an assessment without deducting these contribs. The first year I missed this fact but since then I have checked every year and every year the same thing crops up!
If you don't check yourself then the student could be losing out.

I was caught like that one year. DD got grants and a bursary because I was informed that I didn't need to supply evidence. I didn't know any better and assumed that now that they had my details from the first year they would go direct to HMRC to get the info..
A year down the line, they had checked with HMRC and stated that the info that I had supplied (none 'cos they said I didn't have to) and the info from HMRC differed. Not surprising really as including a Forces pension my gross income was £45K. DD with our help (because I accepted some responsibility for the error) ended up paying back the bursary and her paperwork still shows an overpayment of grant.

[devildog]

Originally Posted by mugwump

I was caught like that one year. DD got grants and a bursary because I was informed that I didn't need to supply evidence. I didn't know any better and assumed that now that they had my details from the first year they would go direct to HMRC to get the info..
A year down the line, they had checked with HMRC and stated that the info that I had supplied (none 'cos they said I didn't have to) and the info from HMRC differed. Not surprising really as including a Forces pension my gross income was £45K. DD with our help (because I accepted some responsibility for the error) ended up paying back the bursary and her paperwork still shows an overpayment of grant.

It is really annoying because you supply what they ask for and assume the entitlement they are given is correct and I honestly believe that many students are given the wrong entitlement and it appears to be happening year after year. When you query it with them they say but you didn't supply us with x,y or z-correct you informed us that no evidence was required!

I would say to anyone that regardless of whether they ask for evidence-send it and also double check that the entitlement is correct.

[Taiko]

Not surprising.

I know of other assessors who did things like this if pension contributions are declared. When it was an assessment I'd done, I would cross-reference a previous years application to see if there was any evidence, and award on a self-certified assessment if so.

If not, I'd do a provisional assessment without them in, but write a personal letter to the parents explaining what was required, diarising this for a review for 6 weeks time. If no documents had been received, I'd then telephone the parent to discuss and clarify the situation.

[Jdubb]

Originally Posted by Taiko

Not surprising.

I know of other assessors who did things like this if pension contributions are declared. When it was an assessment I'd done, I would cross-reference a previous years application to see if there was any evidence, and award on a self-certified assessment if so.

If not, I'd do a provisional assessment without them in, but write a personal letter to the parents explaining what was required, diarising this for a review for 6 weeks time. If no documents had been received, I'd then telephone the parent to discuss and clarify the situation.

As a professional can I pick your brains, I'm about to start the process for my 18 yr old, undergrad from Sept 2012. I've seen on the Direct Gov website "If you’re expecting a 15 per cent drop or more in your income, you can ask to be assessed on the current tax year." I think I may fall into this category but what happens if I make an application on this basis and then it turns out, at year-end, that I haven't earned 15% less than last year? Is any over-payment clawed back somehow, have no problem with that, but I know how awful this kind of problem can be trying to sort it out, many tks.