Mature student and housing benefit - help

lil_umka

Hi, not sure if this is the right place to post this.
I've been studying for a degree with OU, then our son came along and I figured it'd be impossible to continue working, studying and bringing him up, so after much deliberation I left work to go to uni full time.

My husband is on disability benefits and gets housing and council tax payed as well. So I'm getting help from SLC to pay nursery and something called adult dependant's grant, not sure what this is forsince sum is tiny, but over academic year my grants and loans look like a large amount of money, although much less than I was earning, but that's beside the point.

4 months (!) after I started uni local council decided to look at my finances in conjunction with my husband's claim. Today he's received a letter saying that since I'm getting so much (!?) he won't get anymore help with housing and council tax costs and that they've overpaid us £2500 for last 4 months!

The money I get is barely enough to cover my share of house bills, nursery and travelling to uni. Can't even think how we are supposed to survive now.

Saying that I'm shocked is not the word. We must have done something wrong somewhere down the line, I can't think what though. I've notified everyone in September including council that I'm not working anymore and that I'm in full-time education. Why it took so long for them to look at my finances?

I'm going to their offices to Monday so want to be prepared. How should I tackle this? They haven't seen breakdown of my payments yet so I'll bring that in. What else can I do?

Any advice much appreciated.
Anna

Oldernotwiser

Were you claiming HB/CTB when you were working?

Student finance always affects a household's eligibility for means tested benefits.

Wicked_witch

I feel for you, have been in this exact position myself! In my case, the council took 6 months to notice their mistake, but we were able to appeal as we could prove we'd given them all the paperwork- in fact, they'd collected it from us in person because the case was complex so we had a cpl of home visits and they really didn't have a leg to stand on- and didn't have to pay anything back.

However, it was correct that with me as a f/t student and my husband claiming disability benefits we weren't entitled to any HB at all. We were extempt from council tax however, so look into that. I'd advise you to appeal against the overpayment, keeping on right to tribunal as they will try to dissuade you with ominous letters and to find out about council tax extemption. BUT you will also need to accept that you aren't entitled to HB and re-work your finances accordingly.

Best of luck.

lil_umka

My husband was claiming both CBT and HB when I was working, and it carried on to the academic year.

I know about CT reduction for students, which is why I notified council as soon as had uni place confirmed, but can't find any info on HB eligibility. I had no idea my student finance affects HB, I know it's not an excuse, is there a work-around it? My student money would never cover all the bills which is why I'm really worried.

Oldernotwiser

lil_umka wrote: »

My husband was claiming both CBT and HB when I was working, and it carried on to the academic year.

I know about CT reduction for students, which is why I notified council as soon as had uni place confirmed, but can't find any info on HB eligibility. I had no idea my student finance affects HB, I know it's not an excuse, is there a work-around it? My student money would never cover all the bills which is why I'm really worried.

It's quite normal that student finance should affect benefits - you surely didn't think you could have thousands of pounds coming in a year and means tested benefits on top?

With his disability benefits, child benefit/child tax credits and your student finance you should have far more coming in than an unemployed family so you need to look at reducing your outgoings (plenty of help with that on MSE) and making sure that you're receiving everything you can from student finance. You should also arrange a manageable repayment plan with the council for the money you owe, unless you are able to appeal the overpayment.

agrinnall

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It's quite normal that student finance should affect benefits - you surely didn't think you could have thousands of pounds coming in a year and means tested benefits on top?

With his disability benefits, child benefit/child tax credits and your student finance you should have far more coming in than an unemployed family so you need to look at reducing your outgoings (plenty of help with that on MSE) and making sure that you're receiving everything you can from student finance. You should also arrange a manageable repayment plan with the council for the money you owe, unless you are able to appeal the overpayment.

Yes, but if the OP's husband was successfully claiming benefits when she was working (and the household income was higher than it is now) why has the change from earning to student finance caused a cut in benefits?

melroccan

agrinnall wrote: »

Yes, but if the OP's husband was successfully claiming benefits when she was working (and the household income was higher than it is now) why has the change from earning to student finance caused a cut in benefits?

Itis because full-time students are not able to claim any benefits unless disabled themselves, obviously council tax should be unaffected as students don't have to pay that.

Oldernotwiser

agrinnall wrote: »

Yes, but if the OP's husband was successfully claiming benefits when she was working (and the household income was higher than it is now) why has the change from earning to student finance caused a cut in benefits?

Sorry, I missed that.

However, thinking about it, if the OP used to a earn a lot more than the total student funding package, I'm actually quite surprised that they were able to get HB/CTB when she was working.

(I'm also concerned that she says that it was her husband who was receiving HB but that may just be a slip up.)

sausagenmelons

Something that seems to have been missed is that the OP is studying with the OU. The OU arent classed as full time. They are classed as part time??

sausagenmelons

oh and you can only get a grant of £265 a year with the OU unless you apply for the access to learning fund but even that is capped at a couple of hundred££. So the OP wont be getting thousands of pounds extra??

dmg24

sausagenmelons wrote: »

Something that seems to have been missed is that the OP is studying with the OU. The OU arent classed as full time. They are classed as part time??

Reread - she was at OU, she is now at a conventional uni.