PhD student and working partner and child?!

nannytone_2

it gets better and better lol
theyre 'worth it'
they have 3 times the income of someone on minium wage but because theyre 'worth it'
ask someone on minimum wage is they think youre worth it lol
you may be doing a PhD but with youre attitude i doubt if it'll take you too far, it certainly wont win you any friends!

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

As someone who was wrongly investigated for benefit fraud I can assure you that from the DWP point of view your gf is committing benefit fraud & if someone reports her she will be in serious trouble.

For benefit purpose's a couple sometimes eat together, go shopping together & spend time together as a family.

This is what people are objecting too not your job's earning above minimum wage.

tooldle

Maternity pay comes from the Uni, if there is not enough in the RC grant allocation to cover it. Statutory maternity would be unnecessary, unless you are thinking about after the studentship. It's very rare to have only three years of funding these days. Most give 3.5 or 4 year. As said by Sarahevie says, the income is counted. I have come across a number of students in exactly the same position (funding from various sources), whose stipend is counted.

seven-day-weekend

fatbadger wrote: »

Thanks. for the replies.

However, I take exception to the condescending tone of Jowa and nannytone. Making judgment on people's income that they have made public for advice and saying it is "extremely generous" is not cricket all, it sounds mean, especially as you get this help up to £60K. We earn more per hour becasue we have worked harder to get to that point, I do research that may prolong your life one day, but I get less money than a bin man (that's not meant as a slur, just a comparison). My work is not a tax free, work free holiday, so please don't tell me I work part time and earn generous amounts. I get what I deserve. Also, we are not fraudsters, or even if we were, its peanuts compared with Sir Fred Goodwin and co. And we don't have 'old money' from parents houses or any other advantage (except our brains).

And as for "potential risk of your current partner's prosecution for benefit fraud"... as I tried to explain, *at what point do you call someone a couple* after 1 day, 1 week, 6 months?? and when do you phone DWP to tell them? We have relatively recently become a couple, we want to get married as a sign of commitment, and we want to tell DWP. That is not a bad thing. But we don't want to be worse off becasue of it.

I'm sorry you find that hard to comprehend.

Your 'peanuts' is nearly twice the income my husband and I receive and we both have brains too. (OK, we're retired now, but even when we were working we would have considered that a decent income).

I think you would need to declare all your joint income and leave it up to the DWP to decide whether it is included in the means-test or not, £26k is enough for a couple to live on even if you find you are not entitled to any Benefits, so any other income/concessions will be a bonus.

I wish you well for your future life together.

Voyager2002

tooldle wrote: »

Stipends do generally include maternity pay. There is generally a move to 3+1 studentships, giving stipend and fees in the writing up year.
On the childcare front the University in which I work, runs a creche in which rates for students are far lower than those for staff. Not a bad deal really.
In response to the original poster, the stipend will be counted as income. This is really only fair, particularly as stipends paid out in my area range from 13K to 20K.

Surely some confusion! A 3+1 studentship includes funding for an initial Master's degree, followed by the standard three years for a PhD. While a successful student will manage to write up in the third year, very many PhD candidates need more time.

At the university where I used to work (like many others), the number of places in the creche was severely limited. The length of the waiting list meant that few if any students could make use of it, since they tended to graduate just as their names came up.

Voyager2002

Fatbadger, I think that you can rely on the information from the NUS.

When I last claimed CTC, it was clear from the notes of guidance that came with the form that my partner's PhD studentship should not be included. There is a certain logic to this: Tax Credits are a kind of "negative tax" and so are not affected by tax-free income.

I am shocked by some of the negative comments above, particularly from the generally helpful OldernotWiser. Many people seem to think that doing a PhD is simply studying, which of course is a kind of extended holiday, and have no conception of the reality of scientific research work. The comparisons made with how poor other people are indicate just how low the minimum wage is, and how persistent the problem of poverty.

tooldle

No confusion, we enroll students to an MPhil and then upgrade at the end of the first year. The clock doesn't reset if you transfer from one research degree to another. The clock would restart if you went from a taught scheme to a researh scheme, with the intial degree having to be completed prior to enrolment on the PhD. The rate completing within the 4 years must stay above 70% to meet the research councils funding criteria.
Universities differ from institution to institution, I was merely pointing out that the one I work in, does offer discounted nursery care to its students.

fatbadger2

sarahevie wrote: »

The stipend is income. It is classed as 'other income.......Also this is why now I am in write up year my working family tax credits, family tax credits have increased because my pay has decreased by £18290.

I respect your view, as you have been in this situation, but, the tax people are not always right. I have had a couple of tel conversations and got different views as I think I said earlier.
I agree that ALL income is totted up, but you have to make sure that DWP know that they should DISREGARD certain income (and I think stipend is one of them, I could be wrong).

[FONT=&quot]Advice from HMR&C Decision Makers Guide - DMG39151.[/FONT]

“Grant income of students: Meaning of grant
A grant covers any kind if educational grant or award including

• a studentship"

Also, taken from moneyformedstudents
“Most student income, including the student loan, is disregarded except for some grants and allowances for dependants. This is different from means-tested welfare benefits.”

Also, taxaid dot org “Student grants and loans are not generally treated as income”

[FONT=&quot]Also, Low Income Tax Reform group[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
“The following are all disregarded in working out your income for tax credits: [/FONT]
Higher Education

• Postgraduate studentships from any research council; “

As far as I can see, grants income (phd income) is disregarded by DWP. Are you sure your claim wasn’t miscalculated by the tax people?
I know I am very keen on the answer being ‘yes, your phd income is disregarded’ so I may not be being as objective as I should, but from what I have researched, I think it is disregarded income- which is good news.

I hope someone is getting some benefit (no pun intended!) from all this.

fatbadger2

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Fatbadger, I think that you can rely on the information from the NUS.

When I last claimed CTC, it was clear from the notes of guidance that came with the form that my partner's PhD studentship should not be included.

Taken from advice given by John Whiting, tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers on the BBC working lunch website:

[FONT=&quot]“Under the tax credit regulations, income which is "exempt from income tax by virtue of Section 331 of the Taxes Act" is ignored in calculating your tax credits. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Section 331 exempts from income tax various scholarships, exhibitions and bursaries and I presume from your comment that your £12,000 is tax-free. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If so, then it qualifies under Section 331 and thus will not be taken into account for tax credit calculation purposes. “[/FONT]

dmg24

sarahevie wrote: »

I'm in my write up year for a PhD.

This year for me is unfunded (it's my 4th year) but prior to this I was getting an ESRC maintenance grant for PhD (for three years.)

My OH works for the minimum wage but he does work 52 hours a week to try and increase our income.

I find tax credits frustrating for people in our situation.

The stipend definitely counts towards income, as I believe it should, as in my case I was earning £18290 tax free.

Yet on the other hand you are not classed as employed so you aren't accuring class 1 national insurance contributions so cannot claim stat maternity pay, job seekers allowance and those sort of benefits.

You also aren't entitled to anything towards child care because you are not employed.

We are entitled to Working family tax credits, child benefit, child tax credits and this was the same when I was receiving my stipend. We get a slightly higher rate now but not a great deal more.

However, if I earned the same as a paid employee I would have had 80% of my childcare paid, more working family tax credits, stat maternity pay.

On the plus side, I work evenings and weekends on my phd when my OH is at home and both sets of grandparents look after my daughter when I need to go to uni so doing a PhD has enabled me to be a stay at home mum whilst getting a qualification, get on the housing ladder and I'm a lot happier than a lot of my friends.

If your partner works 52 hours at minimum wage, that would be over £15,000 per year. If your stipend counted as income, that would give you a household income of over £30,000 and you would not qualify for WTC. Therefore you have demonstrated that your stipend was not counted for WTC purposes!

OP, why have you changed your username?