Got a question about income support changes for lone parents?

FBaby

I worked full-time in a demanding job, was a single mum to a 4 and 7 years old and managed to do a masters' degree in my spare time. It was tough, very tough, no social life whatsoever, I studied in the evenings and every saturdays when my kids were with their dad, but i accepted that it was my choice to do this course and I had to accept the hardship that came with it.

Most people choose to study and start a career before they have children, some don't. Those who put their career first sometimes end up starting their family late and struggle to conceive, and then not being elligible for NHS funding for assisted conception because of their age. We make our choices and have to accept the consequences.

Oldernotwiser

3guesses wrote: »

Could you ask the minister why a single parent of a 7+ year-old child who is studying a degree (either full time or part time) should not be eligible to claim Income Support when they have NO other income, eg. they are having to re-train and therefore not entitled to ANY state funding - not even a student loan! - and therefore have no money to pay for their food yet alone their student fees (so much for student fees not disadvantaging the poorest in society!).

The current system effectively means that single parents CANNOT retrain, ie they are consigned to a benefits-dependent life at least until their children have grown up. Counter-productive does not even begin to describe this situation...

No students get funding if they already have a degree and neither can they access benefits whilst studying. It's not a lone parent problem and there's no reason why LPs should be in a better position than anyone else.

Blackpool_Saver

Does anyone know of childminders who work Nights/weekends? seriously maybe someone could fill the gap...

red_devil

i cant possibly see where all the jobs are going to come from!

3guesses

wintermare wrote: »

I agree Sue it fit perfectly and is a great option. Study is a lifestyle choice and just because you are a parent/ single parent you shouldn't be under the impression that everything is given to you on a silver platter.

The point is that it is near impossible for a single parent to work and study at the same time. £65 a week to cover the cost of food, heating, etc? Oh yes, talk about being handed everything on a silver platter.

wintermare wrote: »

University/ having a degree is an honour and single people come out of it with mountains of debt. In the US as soon as the child is conceived they start a uni fund. Here we take so much for granted and whine when not given hand outs.

I guess this is where we disagree. An educated population is a major benefit to the whole of society. Some people seem to be under the misguided impression that education benefits only the individual - a very ill-educated view. And I absolutely deplore the Americanisation of this country. There really can be no worse fate.

wintermare wrote: »

I really don't want to be told to get a job in retail (for min wage) when my youngest turns 5 so im doing everything i can now.

How funny - that's exactly what my friend is currently trying to avoid too by re-training...

3guesses

FBaby wrote: »

I worked full-time in a demanding job, was a single mum to a 4 and 7 years old and managed to do a masters' degree in my spare time. It was tough, very tough, no social life whatsoever, I studied in the evenings and every saturdays when my kids were with their dad, but i accepted that it was my choice to do this course and I had to accept the hardship that came with it.

So it was very tough even in a 2-parent family? Imagine how difficult it would have been if you had tried to do it as a single mother...

FBaby wrote: »

Most people choose to study and start a career before they have children, some don't. Those who put their career first sometimes end up starting their family late and struggle to conceive, and then not being elligible for NHS funding for assisted conception because of their age. We make our choices and have to accept the consequences.

Yes, my friend did have a career before being a mother. She became pregnant after being advised by a specialist that it was extremely unlikely that she could. She is no longer physically able to return to her previous career. If she is not to spend the rest of her life dependent one way or another on benefits she needs to re-train. Very myopic not to provide the minimal financial support that I.S. offers to enable her to do so.

I wonder why this country is in such a mess?

3guesses

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

No students get funding if they already have a degree and neither can they access benefits whilst studying. It's not a lone parent problem and there's no reason why LPs should be in a better position than anyone else.

Sorry, I'm afraid you're wrong. I've become a bit of an expert on this area of legislation - check section 4ZA (3) of The Income Support (General) Regulations 1987. My friend can only afford the tuition fees because she was lucky enough to secure a grant from a charity. But that doesn't cover her living costs. And to add insult to injury she had to fund herself first time though university because she was a mature student (after receiving a poor state education).

The point about being a single parent is that it seriously reduces your ability to work, especially if you want to do a half-decent job of being a parent. It's a question of responsibility. But then again, over the last 10-15 years society has placed less and less value on decent parenting - a major factor in society's corresponding deterioration - and responsibility seems to have become almost a thing of myth and legend.

The bottom line is that if you are sufficiently well off that you don't need to work, you can easily afford to go back to university and re-train, even if you are a single parent. However, if you are poor and can't get off benefits without re-training, but you are also a single parent so you can't study and work at the same, you can't go back to university and re-train. That is the reality of the situation. As I said, so much for the poorest in society not being disadvantaged...

And one last thing: why should those with degrees not be able to access student loans to cover the tuition fees if they need to re-train? They are after all loans not grants.

FBaby

3guesses wrote: »

So it was very tough even in a 2-parent family? Imagine how difficult it would have been if you had tried to do it as a single mother...

I think you need to re-read, I WAS a single mum then. You can be a single mum and your kids still sometimes seeing their dad on a weekly basis.

3guesses wrote: »

Yes, my friend did have a career before being a mother. She became pregnant after being advised by a specialist that it was extremely unlikely that she could. She is no longer physically able to return to her previous career. If she is not to spend the rest of her life dependent one way or another on benefits she needs to re-train. Very myopic not to provide the minimal financial support that I.S. offers to enable her to do so.

I wonder why this country is in such a mess?

Why does she need to retrain? Many jobs require a certain level of education, but not always in a specific discipline. And why should single parent get all the help to retrain when others don't? I initially studied psychology, worked for a few years in the care industry but found it hard to advance my career. I decided to retrain and did a Masters in Business. I had to pay every penny of it and repay the loan for 5 years afterwards at a rate of £300 a month, including after my daugther was born. I took a job with the NHS and later decided to specialise in public health, so took on a master's level course in that field. That was when I was a full-time working single mum. Why was it expected that I should pay my full Business degree when I decided I needed to retrain, but single parents should be treated differently?

DX2

FBaby wrote: »

You can be a single mum and your kids still sometimes seeing their dad on a weekly basis.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh if only some of us were as lucky.

Oldernotwiser

3guesses wrote: »

Sorry, I'm afraid you're wrong. I've become a bit of an expert on this area of legislation - check section 4ZA (3) of The Income Support (General) Regulations 1987. My friend can only afford the tuition fees because she was lucky enough to secure a grant from a charity. But that doesn't cover her living costs. And to add insult to injury she had to fund herself first time though university because she was a mature student (after receiving a poor state education).
.

You may consider yourself an expert but what I wrote is correct. No graduates can get funding for a second degree (with some exceptions in the field of Health) and the only students who can claim benefits whilst studying full time are lone parents and disabled students.

I also don't know where you get the idea from that mature students can't access funding to do a degree; this has never been the case, which I know from both my professional and personal experience.