Son left education- losing large percentage tax credits

dktreesea

ukclare wrote: »

:mad:YES IT IS A PROBLEM! I have two children away at Uni - they have this annoying habit of coming home, usually around Christmas (3 weeks), Easter (3 Weeks) and for many weeks during the summer holidays (8 weeks plus)- the Uni year is only about 44 weeks maximum but more like 38 and the rooms they rent are only for about 44 weeks a year. I have to provide two beds/rooms for them - shall I put the tenants in the shed?
As you rightly said there are no benefits payable but the rooms still have to be there.

Our education system really doesn't seem to favour uni students. They have to "endure" huge loans, at interest rates far less favourable than the government currently pays on its gilts, especially in England, and, even if they are eligible for grants, these typically don't fund them for the entire year. In earlier times, this might not have mattered. Holiday jobs were plentiful, not to mention paid. Now, as you say, they tend to go home during holidays, skint, and sometimes to homes where the parents can't afford to keep their rooms free for them. I wonder if this is taken into account with the forthcoming bedroom tax?

Dunroamin

ukclare wrote: »

:mad:YES IT IS A PROBLEM! I have two children away at Uni - they have this annoying habit of coming home, usually around Christmas (3 weeks), Easter (3 Weeks) and for many weeks during the summer holidays (8 weeks plus)- the Uni year is only about 44 weeks maximum but more like 38 and the rooms they rent are only for about 44 weeks a year. I have to provide two beds/rooms for them - shall I put the tenants in the shed?
As you rightly said there are no benefits payable but the rooms still have to be there.

I thought that people with adult children away at university were exempt from the new arrangements.

dktreesea

That seems to be the case under current housing benefit rules but not under UC unless they are under 21:

"What about students studying away from home?
Households where there is a room kept for a student studying away from home will not be deemed to be under-occupying if the student is away for less than 52 weeks (under housing benefit) or 6 months (under Universal Credit).
Under housing benefit rules students are exempt from non-dependant deductions, however full-time students will not be exempt from the Housing Cost Contribution (HCC) which replaces non-dependent deductions under Universal Credit. All young people under 21 are exempt from the HCC, but students over 21 will face a contribution in the region of £15 per week."
(Source: www.housing.org.uk)

ukclare

The occupancy rules are somewhat mute as at the moment (unless maybe in SH) you do not get housing benefit for children away at uni as they are deemed to live away but uni regard them as living at home so they are stuck in no mans land. We do not get any allowance for the two away from home when receiving housing benefit but still have to provide a home big enough to cater for them.

seven-day-weekend

You know, times have changed. Thirty years ago, when my son was small, you expected having children to be an extra expense. Now they are seen as an extra source of income.

And if you have a child at Uni who needs a room to return to, isn't absorbing that expense part of being a parent? Isn't it one of the sacrifices you know you have to make when you bring them into the world?

And can they themselves not partly fund the extra room from their student loan or, heaven forbid, a part-time job?

It really does seem on here a lot of people seem to think it's the Government's responsibility to fund their family's life choices.

Fire_Fox

ukclare wrote: »

:mad:YES IT IS A PROBLEM! I have two children away at Uni - they have this annoying habit of coming home, usually around Christmas (3 weeks), Easter (3 Weeks) and for many weeks during the summer holidays (8 weeks plus)- the Uni year is only about 44 weeks maximum but more like 38 and the rooms they rent are only for about 44 weeks a year. I have to provide two beds/rooms for them - shall I put the tenants in the shed?
As you rightly said there are no benefits payable but the rooms still have to be there.

Parents don't necessarily have to provide two rooms, they could share when home or one could sleep on a sofa bed when they visit or alternate some of their visits. Some people own a caravan or motorcaravan or know someone who does so could borrow when the kids visit, some have other relatives or friends in the area that could be stayed with. Plenty of students crash on floors or other situations lacking in comfort or privacy when at university so it shouldn't be that much of a shock. Some parents could even take in short term lodgers.

seven-day-weekend

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Parents don't necessarily have to provide two rooms, they could share when home or one could sleep on a sofa bed when they visit or alternate some of their visits. Some people own a caravan or motorcaravan or know someone who does so could borrow when the kids visit, some have other relatives or friends in the area that could be stayed with. Plenty of students crash on floors or other situations lacking in comfort or privacy when at university so it shouldn't be that much of a shock. Some parents could even take in short term lodgers.

Or have a lodger in one room to pay the extra rent and stick bunk beds in the other for the kids - yes, even if they are different genders, it won't hurt them for a few weeks. Or one have the bedroom and one have a sofa and alternate. There are ways round it other than taxpayers' money.

After October 2013 you will be able to keep all the rent from a lodger without it affecting your Benefits.

seven-day-weekend

dollydreamer1 wrote: »

some of you folk postin on here about putting kids returning to the family home for holiday in sheds or caravans. well what a bunch of morons you are. l sincerely hope one day you get put in a shed or a caravan. disgusting the lot of yer. mindless morons, call yourselves humans, i don't think so. disgusting.

I'm instructed to be nice to you because you are a newbie. May I suggest that you extend similar courtesy to other forum users?

RupertTheCat

dollydreamer1 wrote: »

some of you folk postin on here about putting kids returning to the family home for holiday in sheds or caravans. well what a bunch of morons you are. l sincerely hope one day you get put in a shed or a caravan. disgusting the lot of yer. mindless morons, call yourselves humans, i don't think so. disgusting.

I am going to assume you are a troll seeing as this is your first post and your spelling, grammar and punctuation is so appalling.

When I was a student and went home to visit my parents I slept in the caravan in the garage and very nice it was too. My sister lived in that caravan for a couple of years as a student - that way she had some independence from our parents. And my boyfriend at the time slept in the garden shed from the age of 15 to 18 and was perfectly happy there as well.

dktreesea

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

You know, times have changed. Thirty years ago, when my son was small, you expected having children to be an extra expense. Now they are seen as an extra source of income.

And if you have a child at Uni who needs a room to return to, isn't absorbing that expense part of being a parent? Isn't it one of the sacrifices you know you have to make when you bring them into the world?

And can they themselves not partly fund the extra room from their student loan or, heaven forbid, a part-time job?

It really does seem on here a lot of people seem to think it's the Government's responsibility to fund their family's life choices.

Not only have times changed - they are continuing to evolve. There was a group of teenagers around here recently and they were telling me that CTC and CB, if their parents are fortunate to get it for them, should be paid directly into their bank accounts, not the parents, because it's money for them, not their parents to dole out in dribs and drabs as they see fit.

There was one guy there who was very quiet, who had parents who don't even qualify for CB for him. He gets an allowance of £100 a week, but said when finally prompted he agreed with the other kids because that was their money and the - get this! - parents were stealing it from them!

A few years from now, I won't have any teenagers.