Housing benefit for mature full time student living with employed partner

ruperts

Hi everyone,

Just looking for some advise regarding housing benefit.

I'm a 26-year-old full time mature student and my partner is the same age and working full time.

I'm aware that as a full time student I cannot claim any housing benefit but could my partner?

She is working as a commis chef but only getting around 25 hours per week at minimum wage. I have a part time job where I work for 16 hours per week and come out with just short of £500 per month. Our rent is £450 per month plus bills. At the moment the lease is in my name only but I plan on adding my partner to our next contract.

So I went through the benefits advisor on direct.gov and initially I just ran through it as if my partner would be living alone. It calculated that she would be entitled to approx £130 per week. I then went through it again this time including myself and it calculated that she would be entitled to approx £500 per week. This seems too much? I carefully checked the answers and everything I entered was correct. However, it did not take into account the fact that I am a full time student and receiving a loan plus grant. So I assume this would have an effect, but would she still be entitled to some, if not all of the benefit?

Neither of us has ever claimed benefits before so this is all a bit new to me. Thanks in advance for any insight or advice.

MrsManda

Your partner can apply for low income benefits on behalf of you both if she's eligible for income assessed benefits.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10034876

However she will be assessed on household income which will include the maintanence loan, maintanence grant and bursaries you receive from SFE and your university.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_070816

If you're using one of the benefits calculators, put your income down as what you receive in terms of maintanence loan and grants as you would put earned income. This will give you a rough idea of whether your partner can claim anything

real1314

MrsManda wrote: »

Your partner can apply for low income benefits on behalf of you both if she's eligible for income assessed benefits.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10034876

However she will be assessed on household income which will include the maintanence loan, maintanence grant and bursaries you receive from SFE and your university.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_070816

If you're using one of the benefits calculators, put your income down as what you receive in terms of maintanence loan and grants as you would put earned income. This will give you a rough idea of whether your partner can claim anything

However, some of your grant may be disregarded, so if it comes out as £0 help, it might not be accurate.