Student Grant lump sum and income support

Doubtful_Guest

There is a bit of a long backstory to this that probably isn't relevant but the main question is as follows ...

My wife will possibly receive a payment of about £2700 from Student Finance England for a Special Support Grant for the academic year 2010/2011. She really ought to have received it sooner and in installments throughout the year but unfortunately it looks like she'll get it all at once at the end of the year instead. Once we know whether or not she's entitled to it, I will write to Benefits Office to let them know.


We currently receive Income Support, Housing Benefit and DLA. Obviously this money will have an effect on our benefits. But does anyone know how much ? Will they stop completely until the money is used up ? Will the benefits be reduced by a certain amount for a certain period ? Does anyone know what happens in this situation ?

We could really use this to pay off our longstanding and expensive credit card debt. My worst nightmare though is that we receive the grant money and use it to pay off most of our debt and then for Benefits Agency to stop our Income Support because of it which would leave us with hardly anything to live on.

Please don't write nasty stuff in response to this. Thanks.

MrsManda

The Special Support Grant is not counted as income for the calculation of benefits. Is your wife still a student? I'm not sure how it works if you receive it as backpay after stopping being a student
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_070816

Doubtful_Guest

Ah, ok, that helps a lot.

She's still a student for a few more weeks. It's just been really confusing trying to work out what we're supposed to be getting and how it all affects each other.

Aarons_mummy

Normally it's only amounts over £6000 that affect means tested benefits. Not sure how this works with being a student though, I don't imagine it should be any different but someone else who's sure will be along soon

abby1234519

If she gets it before the end of June she should still be classed as a student. But then again I don't think it matters when you get it as the Special Support Grant is specifically not taken into account when applying for means tested benefits

Doubtful_Guest

We've just spoken to Student Finance England and they've said that we should be receiving a letter in the next few days informing us that we will received both the Special Support Grant and Adult Dependant's Grant for the year 2010/2011, totalling £5548 (I think that was the amount she said). As soon as we receive the letter confirming that, I will forward it to the Benefits office.

Obviously, that's quite a shock as we didn't think we'd receive anything like that much money. It should have been spread through the year but because of a couple of admin errors, it has been delayed until the very end of the year. It should be paid only about a month before she graduates in July !

I gather from previous posts that the SSG won't affect our benefits but the ADG certainly will. I do really need to know how they will alter our benefits so I know what to do with this money. Will the income support stop completely for a set period ? Will we have to reapply once the money runs out ? Or will they just reduce the income support ? If so, by how much and over what period of time ?
We would like to pay off all our debt first of all but I read somewhere that if you get a lump sum whilst on benefits and spend it straight away then you can get in trouble ?

Thanks again for all your help

Doubtful_Guest

I've been having a look around to see what I can find out and I'm wondering if this might be the probable solution that they go for.

The SSG is disregarded therefore only the £2700 (approx) ADG is considered. This is supposed to be spread over the year so 2700/43 = £64/week that should have been deducted had we received this money when we were meant to. I'm thinking that maybe they will simply consider it an overpayment and deduct accordingly ie. reduce our benefit by £64/week for the next 43 weeks ? It will be tight but we could cope with it. Will that be the likely outcome ?

tom9980

Doubtful_Guest wrote: »

I've been having a look around to see what I can find out and I'm wondering if this might be the probable solution that they go for.

The SSG is disregarded therefore only the £2700 (approx) ADG is considered. This is supposed to be spread over the year so 2700/43 = £64/week that should have been deducted had we received this money when we were meant to. I'm thinking that maybe they will simply consider it an overpayment and deduct accordingly ie. reduce our benefit by £64/week for the next 43 weeks ? It will be tight but we could cope with it. Will that be the likely outcome ?

Sounds right during the summer months your benefit "should" increase again because the grant is only for the sept to june period she is studying. Let me tell you its not easy working this out. Me and my partner did it 3-4 years ago for awhile and it was a nightmare mainly because we received bad advice from the uni on which grants to apply for and initially advisor's for income support. The good news is your going to be better off than we were and we managed fine in fact its my turn to be at uni now it worked out well for us in the end and with hard work it can work out well for you both as well.

allen35

I wouldn't expect IS to recover £64 per week for an overpayment and you can negotiate.

One option open to you is pay the £2700 you are about to be paid which is classed as income and therefore your benefit entitlement will remain the same.

I'm not sure how it will work but hopefully this payment won't affect previous HB/CTB you may of received in the period the extra grant covers.

So therefore paying it back as a lump sum may be the best option, do seek specialist advice on this.