Leaving work to go back college

bestpud

elfen wrote: »

You'd get WTC for your partner working and you being a student. Extra for the little one and for your mum, as she is seen as a dependant and you'd get the disabled additional onto it (I did look into this and working full-time on DLA)

If it's your first full level 3 qualification the college may pay for it because of a govt scheme to get people educated to a good standard. You may get ALG for you being at college (you may not) but you should get HB and CTB cos of your low income. You'll also get a deduction for you being a student (if it's F/T) I think Access courses usually come in under 15 so people can get IS/JSA so you may get IS if it's less than 16 (also cos of your disabled mum and the baba you need more to live on so may get some)

He is getting his fees paid as it is his first level three qualification.

ALG is definitely worth looking into as I'd forgotten about that, but you will more than likely qualify for it, antwebb.

He wil be claseed as a full time student so will not get IS/JSA (he wouldn't anyway as his wife works) and he already pays very little rent and no council tax.

Are you the same 'elfen' who posts some very poor advice on TSR by any chance?

antwebb

It looks like ALG is based purely on income for the previous financial year, so we will be over the threshold

To be honest I'd rather not go the IS route, as even though I'm all about trying to get the most out of WTC, at least I'll still be earning it.

I think its literally down to .. "finetuning" to get the best combination of hours worked and WTC & CTC now down to the penny of course!

bestpud

You wouldn't be entitled to IS anyway, antwebb.

You could claim JSA if you weren't working, but then you wouldn't be able to work full time as well.

Tax credits are your only realistic option.

Shame about the ALG.

antwebb

Alright here goes, anyone brave enough to cast an eye over my shakey maths?

So... Basically on income over £6420 pa, they deduct 39p for every additional £1 your earn from whatever tax credits you qualify for. So assuming we qualify for:

£545 ctc family element which is not touched until income > £50k
£6760 for 1 ctc child element + wtc basic + wtc couple + wtc 30 hr element
£6656 guesstimate wtc childcare assuming cost £160pw = covered £128pw*52

So taking the assumed income below, adding the £545, adding the childcare element but subtracting the actual childcare cost (i.e. £6656 received, £8320 paid out) then adding the £6760 total tax credits less the appropriate deduction:-

~47hrs @ min wage (me 16.5 + partner 30.5 to ensure we qualify for everything!) = £14000 pa (£269.23 pw)
= £7580 over threshold
= £2956.20 deduction
= £16684.80 pa or £320.86 usable salary

Hours then become irrelevant (at least because theres no way I can work 30 hours and still give enough time to the course) so quite simply, every extra £1 we earn would add £0.61 to the final income.

student_advisor

antwebb wrote: »

It looks like ALG is based purely on income for the previous financial year, so we will be over the threshold

It is based on the 08/09 financial year, however, you can also work out how much your household income is likely to be for the next tax or academic year and ask them to reassess your application the basis of that. If your combined income will be less than £30,810, you should get at least £10 per week just for turning up!

If you were at my college, you would probably qualify for childcare support and maybe travel support too. Contact the Student Services team and ask about the Learning Support Fund. Each college can set their own rules on how they hand it out (within national guidelines) but you should be considered a priority as you do not have a level 3 already.

Good luck