Help With Student Loans - HERE!

Luna29412

Hi I am just completing the supporting information for my daughters application. I have the income details but part of the year was covered by Job Seekers Allowance. I don't have the job centre letter anymore so don't the the actual amount received. Any ideas where I could get this from ?

davidvsinden

Hi,

I have some very specific queries about my son's student loan application that might need some detailed knowledge of the system.

He did an 18 month apprenticeship which has led to employment, but now wants to study for a degree at university. He is not on a high salary.

He has started a loan application but (and this is where it gets complicated!) he lives in Wales with his grandma, and I'm his dad also living in Wales. His mum lives in England. So...

1. if his mum lives in England and is the first parent filling in information, does that preclude his from the extra Welsh Government support?

2. if he has been employed independently, does he need to put our incomes in as parents anyway?

3. if, as he does, he comes from a 'blended family' (!), whose incomes count? Is it just his mum's, his mum's and mine, his mum's and mine and our respective partners? Since he actually lives most of the time with neither of us, but with his grandma, should it be her income they assess?

4. I am registered disabled and on a low income. Does that make a difference?

5. If he has started filling in the form, but has put the wrong information in, can he change it?

I really don't know who to turn to for advice on this. The StudentFinanceWales website doesn't answer these specific questions and I suspect saying the wrong thing will mean that he ends up penalised.

Can you help?

David

slcworker wrote: »

Hey, i have alot of Knowledge of how the student loans procedure works. If anyone needs any help, i can advise as much general info.
Obviously i cant divulge into specifics due to Data Protection and the fact that i'd get fired, but anything i can help with, just let me know.

Savvy_Sue

Luna29412 wrote: »

Hi I am just completing the supporting information for my daughters application. I have the income details but part of the year was covered by Job Seekers Allowance. I don't have the job centre letter anymore so don't the the actual amount received. Any ideas where I could get this from ?

You can search online for what the weekly amounts were at any given time, and you can presumably access your bank account to see what payments were made. You should have received a P45 at the end of the period, so if it was only for one tax year there's that source of information.

Savvy_Sue

I don't know the answers, but I am sure anyone who does know the answers needs more information. Starting with: how old is your son?

Moving on:

davidvsinden wrote: »

2. if he has been employed independently, does he need to put our incomes in as parents anyway?

For how long has been employed independently? This, coupled with his age, could be important.

davidvsinden wrote: »

3. if, as he does, he comes from a 'blended family' (!), whose incomes count? Is it just his mum's, his mum's and mine, his mum's and mine and our respective partners? Since he actually lives most of the time with neither of us, but with his grandma, should it be her income they assess?

How long has he lived with Grandma, and where was he living before that, and for how long?

davidvsinden wrote: »

4. I am registered disabled and on a low income. Does that make a difference?

Your disability is irrelevant. Your income may well be relevant (that's the bit I can't answer at all).

davidvsinden wrote: »

5. If he has started filling in the form, but has put the wrong information in, can he change it?

Almost certainly: if he's filling it in online there will be a 'review' screen at the end which he needs to check, and then go back and change anything which is incorrect.

davidvsinden wrote: »

I really don't know who to turn to for advice on this. The StudentFinanceWales website doesn't answer these specific questions and I suspect saying the wrong thing will mean that he ends up penalised.

Phone them?

Luna29412

Hi. Thanks for your message. Yes we've got the bank statements so can go back and work out exactly what he received but I wasn't sure if you paid any sort of tax on it. It appears that he has thrown away any P45, P60, DWP correspondence from that year.


If I just work out what was received would that be the correct figure to include ?

Luna29412

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

You can search online for what the weekly amounts were at any given time, and you can presumably access your bank account to see what payments were made. You should have received a P45 at the end of the period, so if it was only for one tax year there's that source of information.

Hi. Thanks for your message. Yes we've got the bank statements so can go back and work out exactly what he received but I wasn't sure if you paid any sort of tax on it. It appears that he has thrown away any P45, P60, DWP correspondence from that year.


If I just work out what was received would that be the correct figure to include ?

Savvy_Sue

Luna29412 wrote: »

Hi. Thanks for your message. Yes we've got the bank statements so can go back and work out exactly what he received but I wasn't sure if you paid any sort of tax on it. It appears that he has thrown away any P45, P60, DWP correspondence from that year.

If I just work out what was received would that be the correct figure to include ?

JSA IS taxable, but (I believe) isn't usually taxed when you receive it, you have to add it to the rest of your taxable income for that year.

Whether that is the right figure to include or not, I can't say. What you receive is the NET figure (obviously), so if the form is asking for NET figures then you're OK.

I believe that you can check your personal tax statement online, going back into previous years, so in the absence of a set of P45s and P60s that would tell you what HMRC thought the figures for the year should be, net and gross.

What I did while Student Loans were something I had to think about was scan and save my P60 as it arrived each year. I can't tell you how much less stressful that was than trying to find random bits of paper ... which is no help to you now but may help next year.

stulaunch

I was after some clarification on our household income for my sons finance application.
I'm self employed, so straight forward, taxable income minus my private pension contributions.

My wife works in a college and pays into the work pension scheme, deducted from her pay. On her payslip she has Gross pay, Niable pay and Taxable pay.
Does the figure in taxable pay take into account her basic pay tax relief? Or do I have to deduct her Pension contributions off her taxable pay?

Mrs_Arcanum

_shel wrote: »

It's the taxable pay box as that takes into account any pension.

This is very unclear on the Student Loan application forms. My P60 makes no mention of pension contributions. The taxable pay amount is the same as the earnings to date before any pension payments are deducted.

stulaunch

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

This is very unclear on the Student Loan application forms. My P60 makes no mention of pension contributions. The taxable pay amount is the same as the earnings to date before any pension payments are deducted.

Same here on the P60, no mention of pension payments. That's what is confusing me a bit