Student finance and tax credits

astraea

Hi
i am starting uni in sept, and will recieve a maintenence grant, maintenence loan, paretns learning allowance and adult support grant as well as a social work bursary.
my husband does not work as he is in full time further education.
i will still work 16 hours a week and wanted to know which of the above grants and loans affect my child and working tax credit/which have to be declared.
i cannot live on the student stuff alone - i have 4 children.

thanks
been searching the net but cannot find a definitive answer

thanks in advance
vikki

MrsManda

Child Tax Credit and other benefits You may also be able to claim Child Tax Credit from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The amount you get will depend on your personal circumstances and income.
Money you get through the Childcare Grant or Parents' Learning Allowance won't be counted as income when working out your entitlement to tax credits or other benefits.

There isn't a definitive answer as it all depends on your personal circumstances but you may be able to apply for benefits which are assessed on income. Details HERE and HERE show which student finance loans/grants are taken into account when applying for benefits.

astraea

oh
i thought that only certain grants or bursaries were included when declaring to childrens and wroking tax credit? if any?

Indie_Kid

astraea wrote: »

oh
i thought that only certain grants or bursaries were included when declaring to childrens and wroking tax credit? if any?

Yes; but out of work benefits (Housing benefit, income support, etc) work differently.

astraea

yeah i dont think i will get any housing benefit, just child tax and working tax, it was just the tax credits i did not know what was included.
does anyone know?
thanks

wobblymummy

I would really like to know the answer to this too, my husband works full time and we don't get working tax credit

I was told I would get the full grant and parents learning allowance. I would love some help with childcare but the person from student finance says it would affect our tax credits even though we only get child tax credit we don't get WTC or claim any childcare. Husband earns under 20k.


I don't want to get help with childcare then find myself with no tax credits to live on as they are a lifeline to us.

MrsManda

wobblymummy wrote: »

I would really like to know the answer to this too, my husband works full time and we don't get working tax credit

I was told I would get the full grant and parents learning allowance. I would love some help with childcare but the person from student finance says it would affect our tax credits even though we only get child tax credit we don't get WTC or claim any childcare. Husband earns under 20k.

If you see my post above and the links provided you will see that the childcare grant is not taken into consideration as income when working out your tax credits

wobblymummy

Hi

Thanks for the link, that info is really useful.

I dont know if I will get a place or not at uni in Sept and I am being asked to update tax credits with my income for this year, I have a PT job at the moment and my husband works full time.

I know I would qualify for quite a lot from the loans and grants available but how could I possibly incorporate this into my tax credit calculation as I wouldnt know till July/August time if I had a place and what finance was firmly offered.

Surely if I take up the place and I accept the finance offered that would scupper my tax credit calculations for the year and I might end up with a massive overpayment because my income would be more than I had originally told them.

It would be helpful if there was some concrete way of finding out exactly which of the loans, bursaries and grants available affect Tax Credits, not income based benefits like JSA or Income Support, just Tax Credits. All the information on the link suggests it might and when your not living on very much its helpful to know for definate really so you can budget, is there anywhere that gives a definative answer. I rang student finance and they told me I wouldnt be able to claim the childcare grant because I claimed Child Tax Credit, I said do you mean the Childcare element, he said no, if you get child tax credit you cant claim any nursery fees, the student finance offer told me this was rubbish, I already knew it was but they dont really seem to have the right info when you ring up, I did tell them we didnt get Working tax credit or Childcare element but he was insistent (ly) incorrect !

MrsManda

There really isn't any way to give you a 100% answer as it all depends on such a wide variety of things. Have you applied to university to go in September? If you've applied then there is no need to wait to get your place confirmed before applying for student finance. In which case you'll get your student finance offer alot quicker.
Need to apply for student finance before the 25th June to ensure you get your money before the start of term.

Indie_Kid

Found the following on Direct Gov:

If you, or your spouse or partner, get the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit, you won't be able to get the Childcare Grant as well.

There is nothing about how you can't claim CTC and the childcare grant.

I got told it was only the adult dependants gratn that affect tax credits - will have another look later for you.

Oldernotwiser

astraea wrote: »

Hi
i am starting uni in sept, and will recieve a maintenence grant, maintenence loan, paretns learning allowance and adult support grant as well as a social work bursary.
my husband does not work as he is in full time further education.
i will still work 16 hours a week and wanted to know which of the above grants and loans affect my child and working tax credit/which have to be declared.
i cannot live on the student stuff alone - i have 4 children.

thanks
been searching the net but cannot find a definitive answer

thanks in advance
vikki

I would look carefully to your financial situation in the second and third years of your course. Working 16 hours alongside a degree and having 4 children may be doable in the first year but is likely to be more problematic in the later years of a Social Work degree when you start to have placements. There are only a certain number of hours in the day!