Student Finance unearned income

devildog

If I wanted to financially help children whilst they were at Uni (although not legally required to help) would they need to declare it as unearned income?
If it was put into their ISA account would they need to declare it? I know that they do not have to declare interest from these accounts but what about deposits from parents?

Is there a limit to how much help could be given this way ?

Oldernotwiser

In general, university students need more money to cover living expenses, not more money in an ISA. If you can afford it, you can give them as much financial support as seems appropriate to you.

devildog

Without them needing to declare it?

I appreciate what you are saying but as they have proved to far exceed my expectations on budgeting, as and when, I would like to give them a bit for a rainy day so to speak(it may not be much but every little helps) and obviously if they carry on budgeting sensibly then this money would be saved and obviously if saved I understand that it would be better off in a cash isa as they would have instant access if needed and not need to declare the interest.

alyth

my parents gift me money every month and I've just applied for my SAAS funding and not put this on the application form - maybe I should have! As far as I am aware savings do not have to declared, certainly I wasn't asked how much savings I had and I spoke to SAAS about something on the phone a couple of days ago and they were totally happy with my application and it is being processed.

Oldernotwiser

Only the interest from savings need to be declared, not the savings themselves.

alyth

really - there was nothing on the SAAS form that I saw that mentioned income from savings - cue me now rushing over to SAAS's website to check that i have completed it properly!

devildog

Alyth,

Don't panic- if I recall it does not state 'savings' but 'unearned income' which I believe is the likes of trust funds, interest on savings etc.
That is why I wasn't sure about donations from parents as they(student) will not have strictly earnt it.

glider3560

The help notes for the form state this "When working out your taxable unearned income, you should not include ..."

The key word in there is taxable. Gifts between people are not taxable in the UK (except for inheritance tax), so there is no need to include them. Same with ISAs. Interest on these is not taxable so doesn't need to be declared.

devildog

Thanks Glider,

I guess I was focussing too much on the 'unearned' as opposed to 'taxable'