DLA and bettering myself!!! 24 November 2008 at 10:25AM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Disability Money Matters 16 replies 1.4K views

Mummyboo

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????

savingforarainyday

The idea of DLA is to help you to support you in day to day living. I have previously read all the bumf about it and given you are allowed to work whilst claiming DLA and some students with disabilities will be claiming DLA. My friends daughter is on higher rate care and attended a mainstream college on a full time course last year. In your case it would be supporting you to improve self esteem and confidence, in the least if they asked,

If you want a definitive answer you could ring them and ask the question.

Sorry can't be of more help

Ames

Are you claiming any other benefits, such as Income Support? There's a limit to how many hours you can do if you are, but I can't remember if it's 16 or 20. If it's just DLA then there shouldn't be a problem.

Mummyboo

The placement would be on a volunteer basis so I wouldn't be getting paid.

I claim Income Support aswell but don't think this will be a problem as I won't be working if that makes sense

Ames

Education counts for Income Support hours, sorry.

tom9980

Depends on how this is setup.

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.

purplecatlover

Mummyboo wrote: »

The placement would be on a volunteer basis so I wouldn't be getting paid.

I claim Income Support aswell but don't think this will be a problem as I won't be working if that makes sense

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.

nanokitten

the rules for IS have changed and you can now do as many hours voluntrary work as you wish (although the jobcentre must be informed and ok it).

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.

purplecatlover

nanokitten wrote: »

the rules for IS have changed and you can now do as many hours voluntrary work as you wish (although the jobcentre must be informed and ok it).
.

thanks i wasn't aware of that, guess maybe it depends on the disability if they would be ok with it or not...

JoolzS

I can't answer the exact question you are asking, but I wonder if you have looked into Open University courses. I don't know how they are paid for if you aren't in work but I'm fairly sure that there are some financial incentives. The reason I mention them is that because you are studying at home you have a lot of leeway. I also suffer from depression (and I have to admit to quitting a few OU courses) but right now the single course I am doing is the right thing for me. I know the date that an assignment is due well in advance and I know how many units of the course I have to study for that particular assignment. I don't have to "feel well" every week to turn up for a lecture - I just have have to feel well enough to complete each assignment. I often ignore my OU course materials for a couple of weeks and then I have a good patch and study three units in three days. It works for me.

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

purplecatlover

they paid for my OU short course a couple of years ago, all the details are on their website somewhere, they sent me a form i filled in and sent back and i got the funding.

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.