Help with finance for a mature student please!

student_advisor

diaboliquesaint wrote: »

I also spoke to somebody from InTraining (pathways) today and he advised that as long as I am still eligible for esa then education and training can count as though it is permitted work so I can do at least the first year without losing any benefits.

This is almost definitely incorrect I'm afraid. If you are only receiving income-based ESA, you are likely to lose most or all of it due to your student income. Your maintenance loan alone will probably be more per week than you receive in ESA.

You should qualify for
-special support grant of £2906 which is non-repayable and disregarded for benefit purposes
-maintenance loan of £4950 which is repayable and is mostly taken into account for benefit purposes
-parent's learning allowance of £1508, non-repayable, ignored for benefits
-childcare grant of 85% of your childcare costs, non-repayable, ignored for benefits
-tuition fees, repayable & ignored for benefits
-institutional bursary, non-repayable & should be ignored for benefits I think (not 100% certain though)

You may or may not continue to receive housing benefit, and your tax credits are not affected.