Under 19, Estranged from Parents, Full Time Education - No support??

pavlovs_dog

i left home two weeks before my 18th due to family breakdown.

i was doing A levels at my school rather than college. My head of year wrote a letter to support my claim for IS to say that the estrangement was permananent. I also had a letter from the police confirming that they had to escort me to collect my belongings fom the family home to ensure my safety. I could have claimed IS and HB, but due to some very kind friends subletting me a room in their flat for a nominal sum I survived on IS. there was no EMA in my day (although this was only 2003). I topped up my IS by working 8 hours at a local shop.

theoretically, when it came to applying for my undergrad degree, proving estrangement to the student loan company should have been easy. i was living apart and could show that, thanks to the IS and the few quid i brought in from my part time job, that i was finanacially independent. However i still had to jump through hoops to get that independent student status, with another letter from my head of year strengthening my case.

as an aside, i left school with the best set of a level results out of all the girls in my school and won a scholarship to uni. with the right attitude and determination, your friend's present situation needn't hold them back.

John38_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You could be right, although it goes against the official information and also what Taiko (who works in this field) has advised.

I hope that it isn't true because it seems a loophole that could be easily exploited; if DWP require no proof of estrangement at FE level then it's hard to see that confirmation from them would be adequate as the more stringent proof required for HE.

I'm always ready to learn, so perhaps you could provide a link for this information.

Yep, no problem, I'll leave a link to the Student Finance England advice guide for students at the end of my post. Here is short snippet of information regarding estrangement (irrelevent bits deleted):

"Students who are estranged from their
parents

If you want to claim independent status because
you are estranged from your parents, you must
provide confirmation from a professional person
outside your family who knows about your
circumstances. Examples of proof you could
provide are:
- if you claimed Income Support when you
were under 18, a letter from your local
Jobcentre Plus office showing that you
received benefits because of your situation;

To qualify for independent status because of this,
you will need to prove that the lack of contact
with your parents is permanent. You must
provide evidence of this to Student Finance
England or your local authority explaining the
circumstances which led to this. Student
Finance England or your local authority would
normally expect you to have had no contact with
your parents for at least 12 months although this
may not apply in exceptional circumstances.
You will not be able to claim independent status
just because you do not get on with your parents
or because you do not live with them. You will
also not be able to claim independent status
simply because your parents do not want to give
details of their income, or refuse to provide

financial support to you."

From personal experience, that letter from the JCP confirming your entitlement to benefits because of estrangement is sufficient proof on its own, and they don't usually require any further letters, because if you're living on your own, the chance of social services, police, or GP involvement is very minimal. The only thing they could ask for is a letter from a college or school tutor, but even then, not many will know about a students personal circumstances, hence the reason for not requesting any further evidence.

Out of curiousity, what 'official information' does this go against?

As per the copied information, you obviously can't just pretend to be estranged because you don't get on with your parents or don't live with them. So if you were receiving IS and did have contact with your parents, you could theoretically admit you're not 'estranged' enough to meet HE criteria, but lets be realistic, who is going to do that and do themselves out of thousands of pounds of extra grants and loans?

Link: http://www.direct.gov.uk/dr_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@educ/documents/digitalasset/dg_174587.pdf

student_advisor

none of my estranged FE students receiving IS have been able to easily get regarded as an estranged HE student, all cases have required not only proof of IS but also letters from myself and/or other involved professionals

students with no involvement of external support agencies have been informed that they would need to pay for a solicitor's letter to prove the estrangement

John38_2

student_advisor wrote: »

none of my estranged FE students receiving IS have been able to easily get regarded as an estranged HE student, all cases have required not only proof of IS but also letters from myself and/or other involved professionals

students with no involvement of external support agencies have been informed that they would need to pay for a solicitor's letter to prove the estrangement

The disparity between the two is ridiculous. Either HE requirements need to be reduced in order to match the FE standards, or vice versa. Its stupid having two different systems. Why is it more acceptable to hand out £2650 a year for 3 years of Income Support, plus £30 a week EMA, plus full rate LHA for all the years they are claiming, not to mention all the freebies that come with being on Income Support, yet when it comes to claiming a grant (which everyone can get) and a loan (which gets re-paid in the end), they need to introduce ridiculously tight requirements to prove estrangement? If anything, taxpayers would surely want more safeguards on the money they know they're never going to get back.

Regarding the above post though, how on earth does paying for a solicitors letter prove estrangement? Its walking into a strangers office, telling him what to type, handing him some cash, and walking out with 'proof of estrangement'....ridiculous.

Like I said though, in my experience a letter from the DWP is more than acceptable, and a note saying that they are welcome to contact the College/School Tutor if they want to, which I've found they usually don't. Perhaps somebody who has been receiving Income Support for 1 1/2 to 2 years, and pretty much since they turned 16 is more 'believable' than an applicant who has been on Income Support for estrangement for the past few weeks. Especially if they think they're trying to pull a fast one in order to get the extra loans and grants.

epitome

John38 wrote: »

Makes no difference whether she's 16, 17, 18, or 19. The title says she's under 19, and therefore because she is in full time education, she is entitled to Income Support provided she meets the criteria for estrangement.

If aged 19 it could make a difference.
Young Person must have enrolled on or started the course BEFORE aged 19

I know I bumped an old thread, but if a point needs to be clarified then it should be clarified, no matter how old the thread is.