Can you claim ESA for a 16 year old still in school ?

24skins

samanthag wrote: »

Thanks so much for that
i would rather loose my family allowance and my son gain from this, my son was born with his special needs so yes he has had it for more than 196 days
i have had about 6 different social workers over the years :eek:
but i havent had one now for probably 10 years :eek:
allthough i do have a key workerr she has been off work ill for a while and she was supposed to come and see me yesterday and i was going to ask her but she phoned me up early yesterday to say there was an emergency in work

hence why i thought i would post on here

sammy

Yeah, I'm in a similar position so can totally understand

Just a couple of points while I remember; your son will be entitled as long as he's in a school or on a course specifically for pupils with additional needs (this includes college link courses specifically for children with disabilities, but not those that are open to all), also ESA can be affected by savings and if your son has over £6k in the bank they will reduce the amount of ESA he receives.

It is best to get advice before applying as everyone's circumstances are different (hopefully your key worker will get back to you!), but a household with a disabled teen not claiming CTC could be around £50 better off* each week if the parent relinquishes CB and claims ESA on behalf of the child.

*depending on which rate of CB is claimed for the child

Good luck to you

samanthag

my son attends a special school and he has been there since he was 5 but now he is going into the 6th form in september i know that he will be going to college a few times a week to do some sort of course ...... he was there before he broke up he did an animal care course and he has done brick laying ect so i presume this is what you mean ??

thanks for your advice you have been most helpful and its nice to know that someone else understands
sammy

24skins

samanthag wrote: »

my son attends a special school and he has been there since he was 5 but now he is going into the 6th form in september i know that he will be going to college a few times a week to do some sort of course ...... he was there before he broke up he did an animal care course and he has done brick laying ect so i presume this is what you mean ??

thanks for your advice you have been most helpful and its nice to know that someone else understands
sammy

Hiya, it depends if that course is specifically for children with additional needs, it can be in a mainstream environment but the course itself has to be a specialised one to be completely ignored for ESA purposes.

Where I live children aged 17-19 that have attended special school can go on a link course at mainstream College and still claim ESA, but I'm in the Scottish system where we don't have separate sixth form colleges so I know very little about them and don't want to give you duff advice. My personal opinion would be that a statemented child leaving special school is more than likely to be considered to be on a specialised course and entitled to ESA, but definitely run this past your keyworker as she will have a better picture than me.