Joint ESA claim College course advise for Partner. Please Help.

Hey guys

Been trying to get an answer for this question online but really struggling. I currently claim ESA and am in the support group, it's a joint claim and I claim for my partner and I believe her part of my claim is based on our income.

I have always been the main worker in the family, as my wife looked after our epileptic daughter ( recently diagnosed as being in remission!!). Over the last 12 months or so I have been unable to work due to illness, with both my kids now attending high school my partner would like to train as a hair dresser so she can start work.

She's applied for college and been accepted, her course is ten hours a weeks, the course runs for 36 weeks.

The problem is we are getting conflicting information on whether this will affect our joint claim. When she first applied we spoke to both the DWP and the CAB, we were told as long as the course is part time there won't be a problem.

She rang and spoke to the DWP yesterday and they said it would need to go to a decision maker and we could lose our benefits??

We will be getting the course paid for by the college, but will be buying the equipment etc ourselves as we were told this could affect our ESA claim?

My wife is absolutely gutted, she's been looking forward to starting to work towards a new career, but we simply cannot afford to live without the benefits at the moment.

I find this situation crazy to be honest, I have always worked since leaving school, my wife is now looking to train to start work so we can get back off the benefits, but it seems we're going to be financially punished for doing so. :mad:

If anyone could give me some advice that would be great!!

Wayne

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  • FBaby
    FBaby Posts: 18,367
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    I find this situation crazy to be honest, I have always worked since leaving school, my wife is now looking to train to start work so we can get back off the benefits, but it seems we're going to be financially punished for doing so
    Couldn't she take on any kind of job to fit around her course and help supporting the family this way?
  • She also has commitments taking our daughter to school, she suffers extreme anxiety and ADHD and gets very worked up in the morning. Working as well could be an option if we could get a very flexible employer, but she has been un-successful applying for jobs in the past due to the fact that she's been unemployed for so long.

    Hopefully after my treatment I will be able to return to work myself, but need to sort something out for in the mean time.
  • pmlindyloo
    pmlindyloo Posts: 13,049
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    Fallw02 wrote: »
    Hey guys

    Been trying to get an answer for this question online but really struggling. I currently claim ESA and am in the support group, it's a joint claim and I claim for my partner and I believe her part of my claim is based on our income.

    I have always been the main worker in the family, as my wife looked after our epileptic daughter ( recently diagnosed as being in remission!!). Over the last 12 months or so I have been unable to work due to illness, with both my kids now attending high school my partner would like to train as a hair dresser so she can start work.

    She's applied for college and been accepted, her course is ten hours a weeks, the course runs for 36 weeks.

    The problem is we are getting conflicting information on whether this will affect our joint claim. When she first applied we spoke to both the DWP and the CAB, we were told as long as the course is part time there won't be a problem.

    She rang and spoke to the DWP yesterday and they said it would need to go to a decision maker and we could lose our benefits??

    We will be getting the course paid for by the college, but will be buying the equipment etc ourselves as we were told this could affect our ESA claim?

    My wife is absolutely gutted, she's been looking forward to starting to work towards a new career, but we simply cannot afford to live without the benefits at the moment.

    I find this situation crazy to be honest, I have always worked since leaving school, my wife is now looking to train to start work so we can get back off the benefits, but it seems we're going to be financially punished for doing so. :mad:

    If anyone could give me some advice that would be great!!

    Wayne

    I believe the reason the DWP said that it would go to a decision maker is because they will need to check what kind of course it is, whether there are specified extra hours of studying that your partner needs to do etc etc. Differentiating between part time courses and full time courses is something they have to investigate and you will have to find supporting evidence to prove it is a part time course.

    I would find out as much as you can about the course from the college. Speak to their welfare department and ask for some evidence from them that this is a part time course for benefit purposes. They will doubtless have been asked about this many times.
  • Okay thanks for your response. When we queried this with the college they just said that the course was 10 hours. My wife's going to the college tommorow morning to speak to there welfare department as you suggest, hopefully they can give us a definitive answer.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,323
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    I am afraid when I asked about a hair dressing course, I was told that it was better if a student also worked in a hairdressers alongside the course, whether it was paid or unpaid. I was told this as I said I didn't know how 10 hours a week in college would be sufficient to enable a person to become a qualified hair stylist. She will also find that she will have better prospects if she does the level 3 course afterwards. So it may take more time than she is expecting. I could certainly tell who was just doing the basic 10 hours and who was also working as a junior in a salon.

    Who has anxiety.., your daughter or your wife?
  • epitome
    epitome Posts: 3,199 Forumite
    edited 30 July 2017 at 9:40PM
    First of all there is no such thing as a "joint claim" for ESA. The claim is either yours or hers, and based on what you have said it is your claim, as you said, "I claim for her".

    You can have the scenario where you both claim ESA individually, and you have 2 claims. They can either both pay money or sometimes one pays money and the other is just for NI credits.

    In the scenario that there is only 1 claim (yours). Your partner doing a Full or part time course will NOT affect your ESA claim at all. The only thing that will affect your claim from that scenario is if she receives a student maintenance loan or grant. The fee waiver will not affect it. There is no need for a decision maker except on the issue of funding. full or part time for the claimant's partner will not need to be looked at, anyone who told you otherwise, does not know what they are talking about.

    If she has her own claim to ESA and it pays her money, then a part time course will not affect her claim at all (except as above if hers is Income Related), and a full time will not affect her claim (except as above) if she has a disability benefit herself. or if she has an ESA Conts claim herself, her course whether full or part time whether funded or not will not affect her ESA Conts award..

    If the ESA claimant starts a course of education:,
    ESA Conts is unaffected by funding or full or part time.
    ESA IR is affected by funding.
    ESA IR is affected by it being "full time" unless there is a disability benefit recieved by the ESA claimant.
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