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DLA and bettering myself!!!

67 Posts
Hi everyone was wondering if I could pick your brains I currently claim DLA high rate care and low rate mobility. I am suffering from chronic depression. Basically I am sick of popping pills and want to help myself.
I was thinking of doing a college course on a part time basis but what I want to know is how will this affect my benefits. My main concern is that I will not be well enougth to do it but I really need to try. I will need the financial support incase this happens.
The course I was looking at is only 1 day a week in college for 3 hours and a placement for 16 hours a week.
Does anyone know what I am allowed to do????
I was thinking of doing a college course on a part time basis but what I want to know is how will this affect my benefits. My main concern is that I will not be well enougth to do it but I really need to try. I will need the financial support incase this happens.
The course I was looking at is only 1 day a week in college for 3 hours and a placement for 16 hours a week.
Does anyone know what I am allowed to do????

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If you want a definitive answer you could ring them and ask the question.
Sorry can't be of more help
I claim Income Support aswell but don't think this will be a problem as I won't be working if that makes sense
In the last year i was doing an evening course at a college for 3 hours and also doing volunteer work for a charity of approx 6-12 hours per week which was setup by the jobcentre. I think you need proper advice and should ask to talk to a DEA (Disability Employment Adviser) at the jobcentre to get some better advice.
Technically you are not meant to do more than 16 hours study for IS however it all depends on how they see the placement and how it is setup, only the college and the DWP can help you with that i think. So you need to find out from the college more about the placement and "volunteering" you then need to tell the Jobcentre/DWP about this and prefferably via a DEA and ask them what they think. Be upfront and honest and they more than likely will try to help make something possible for you.
if you can do 16 hours as a volunteer they may turn round and tell you you can do that as a paid member of staff and go find a job....or they may let you do that until you finish the course then tell you to go find a job.
as far as dla if you can prove you still have the same care needs it shouldnt be a problem to keep claiming it, but they may re look at your claim for re assessment.
If the work is part of a placement of a course these hours may be considered as eduction rather than voluntary work you are only allowed to do a certain number of hours of education (cant remeber but i think its 21).
I think you'll need to speak to a benefits advisor to get a better idea and it will be up to the jobcentre to make the final call, however if you are are disabled you should be encouraged. You would be wise to make it clear that your condition has not changed but you feel it would be beneficial to you.
thanks i wasn't aware of that, guess maybe it depends on the disability if they would be ok with it or not...
The OU do some "taster" type courses that are worth 10 points (a simple degree is 300 points) that only take a couple of months to complete. If you can get financing it may be a way of teasing yourself back into learning. Their website is www.open.ac.uk
Absolutely no offence taken if you think the OU isn't for you - just posting about what I know
Julie
actually they were also really helpful with extra support and stuff, i was assigned a named tutor who called every now and then to see how i was getting on, and whom i could call if i was struggling with stuff.