Does my son have to give up his college course & his university place

anastasia1

Hi, my son is going to be 20yrs old next week & is in the second year of a full time college course that does not finish until July. He also has been accepted for university starting in september (provided he completes college course)
I have been advised that the child benefit & child tax credit will stop from his birthday.
I have also been advised that he will not be entitled to claim JSA as not available for work.
My husband & I are both unemployed at present & claim JSA. In january the DWP decided to start deducting payments from our benefit for an overpayment & social fund loan my husband had in 2005. (before I had even met him!) These deductions are set to continue until May & are being taken at around £20per week.
Next week we will have a further £65 less coming in & I know that there is no way 3 of us will be able to eat & pay household bills on £81 per week.
Obviously we have been trying to find work & I have asked DWP & JCP what we can do but their response has been to tell me I fall into a bit of a grey area & they can't help.
Does anyone know what I can do?

karenx

Thats right your son cant claim JSA as he isnt looking for work.

anastasia1

Was more hoping to find out something I didn't already know like a way my son can avoid throwing his future away so he can claim benefits or resort to some kind of fraud

karenx

I think the only thing now is to widen your search area for finding a job. If your son will get any grant/loan etc you could ask him to pay his fair share in the house

McKneff

Could he find a part time job to help him through college.

Thousands and thousand of students manage without resorting to fraud.
Which, i might add, if he committed fraud, he'd never get a job anyway with a conviction.

Could you and your OH try even harder to look for work, are you looking for work on a daily basis.

anastasia1

Didn't mean my son commit fraud, & yes we are all trying to find work on a daily basis. my sons problem is finding work to fit round college attendance which is not in the same town that we live

SuziQ

If you can stumble through to the end of this school year then your son can get a job until Uni,when he will be able to get full grants and loans. My DD went out to spain last year to work,partly as she is studying spanish and it helped,but also because there was absolutely no work locally here and I couldn't really afford to support her. It worked out really well-she has gained confidence and independance,her spanish became even more fluent and she came home with money saved (helped with this years college expenses),I didn't have to support her and she has another string to her bow to allow her to do the same this summer. Sometimes,you need to think outside of the box! I will ask her for the web address for the work abroad service she used-it was free to her,as those advertising on there with jobs pay a small fee to place their request.

chesky369

Why would your son have to throw his future away? It sounds as though he will be entitled to the maximum loan/grants available to students and he will probably be able to get some kind of employment when he's at university. It sounds as though he's not living at home at present and won't be when he starts his university course. When he starts, he'll be in the same position as thousands of others who come from less than privileged backgrounds and most of them manage to complete their studies.

I know it seems tough right now but try to think long-term on his behalf; his studies will free him from a life on benefits and hopefully be the passport to a great future.

anastasia1

I know he will be able to get grants for uni its now thats the problem as he does live at home & We are not able to keep him & us on £81 per week

Welshwoofs

Has he walked into every pub in the area to see if they have evening work? Has he walked into every fast-food outlet to see if they have evening/weekend work? Has he walked into every shop to ask the same? Has he put in applications to all the local supermarkets?

woody01

To be fair, whether Uni or not, at 20 years old, he should be going some way to supporting himself.

Take some of his grant towards your outgoings as that is what it's for.