Back on the ESA merry-go-round

Sparklebabey

earthbound_misfit wrote: »

going to uni to get qualified in something they are actually interested in, in order to work in that field, may be their last ditch attempt to try and sort their life out.

I thought your post was very informative and clearly you know alot about mental illness but with all due respect, your comment above jumped out at me.

Lots of people would love the luxury of being able to go to uni and get a job in the field they are interested in and have a 'sorted' life.....but usually these people can't afford to and have to do a 'menial' (charming!) job.

By the OP's own admission, they aren't receiving any treatment for their illness aside from GP involvement.

DepressedInsomniac

Sparklebabey wrote: »

Lots of people would love the luxury of being able to go to uni and get a job in the field they are interested in and have a 'sorted' life.....but usually these people can't afford to and have to do a 'menial' (charming!) job.

By the OP's own admission, they aren't receiving any treatment for their illness aside from GP involvement.

And what difference does this make? There comes a time when other than dealing with crisis situations there is very little treatment available other than having a GP monitor you, at least not on the NHS. I pay for private treatments with my DLA.

And since when was going to university classed as a luxury? It's going to land me in over £40,000 of debt. Perhaps I should sit at home and do nothing but keep claiming tax payers money, eh?

PippaGirl_2

DI, I completed a degree in 2010 and I didn't claim either ESA or JSA throughout that time. I did get full HB and CTB but otherwise lived solely on student finance.

DepressedInsomniac

Been digging around to see if I can find any more information to clarify the HB rules for students and came across an interesting document penned by Disability Rights UK.

I don't know how up to date it is but this paragraph caught my attention...

15. Students

15.1 Full time students

If you are a student you can claim contributory ESA if you have paid enough national insurance (NI) contributions, or satisfy the rules for claimants under 20/25. You will still have to satisfy the limited capability for work test.

If you are aged 16, 17 or 18 you will usually be excluded from claiming contributory ESA if you are still at school or in full-time education of 21 hours or more a week. Lunch breaks, breaks between lessons, free periods, and periods of private (unsupervised) study or homework do not count.

From age 19 there are no rules that limit the hours and type of study you can do.

When adding up the number of hours that you study each week, you should ignore 'any instruction or tuition which is not suitable for persons of the same age who do not have a disability'.

As a full time advanced or non-advanced student, you can only get ESA on grounds of low income (income-related ESA) if you are getting disability living allowance (DLA).

If you are 20 years old or over and you get DLA, you automatically count as having limited capability for work. If you are in advanced education, whether under or over 19, you will also automatically count as having limited capability for work if you get DLA. You will still be assessed under the limited capability for work-related activity test, which decides whether you are in the support group or the work-related activity group.

So does this mean if I tell them I am attending uni they will automatically find me as having limited capability for work? I need to be sure I'm reading this right because if it's true (and I shall clarify with ESA office tomorrow) then I needn't worry about the assessment any longer! :j

DepressedInsomniac

PippaGirl wrote: »

DI, I completed a degree in 2010 and I didn't claim either ESA or JSA throughout that time. I did get full HB and CTB but otherwise lived solely on student finance.

Were you also in receipt of DLA as usually students don't qualify for HB unless they either have dependent children or are disabled. I'm trying to find out whether being on DLA is sufficient to qualify as the direct.gov site says disability premiums or ESA but surely you can only get disability premiums with another benefit? It's so damned confusing.

As long as I can get HB I don't care if they stop my ESA, I'll find a way to manage

PippaGirl_2

No, I hadn't claimed DLA then, later my floating support worker applied for it for me as she said I qualified. I had no idea what I was entitled to at the time and was just bumbling along. I could have claimed CTC 18 months earlier!

eta at the time my dd was a dependent child though, thankfully. She's not now and I support her with my ESA and DLA. Once at Uni herself all being well, she will be entitled to DSA which will help her.

Dunroamin

DepressedInsomniac wrote: »

Actually, I never referred to them in my OP as they have absolutely no bearing on my situation so the information wasn't necessary. I also wasn't asking for financial advice yet Dunroamin decided I couldn't afford to live in my home and suggested I move to cheaper accommodation.

When I explained why this isn't possible, he/she kept pushing for more detail in an attempt to back up their erroneous assumptions and also giving advice which was clearly wrong even if his/her assumptions had been correct. There would have been no need to do any mind reading if he/she had stuck purely to the facts that were presented as these are all that are relevant.

I am going to make one last attempt to try to explain the way that your initial post was misleading.

When someone writes that they are planning to go to university and they live in the family home, most people would expect that the poster was a young person living with their parents, not a middle aged adult with their own children away at university.

It would not have been terribly revealing just to have said this rather than to waste many people's time either by assuming the more common situation or trying to find out (like pulling teeth at times!) what actually was going on.

As I said earlier, I wish you every success in your plans and will excuse your rudeness on this thread. All the very best of luck.

skintmacflint

Think Dunroamin has been unfairly criticised on this thread. She was only trying to get some info, to enable her to give practical viable advice to DI on how to manage if things didn't go exactly to plan. And was not being critical of the OP.

Often there's many different solutions to a problem. Experienced posters are very knowlegeable and creative in this regard,. And surely any practical help or practical advice should be offered for consideration.

I'm sure everyone wishes DI the best shot at starting Uni, that she enjoys the course , and things work out for her in the future.

Face1992

DepressedInsomniac wrote: »

Thankyou Murphy and PippaGirl :A

I must admit I'm quite taken aback at the level of criticism and scrutiny I've faced here. People in my own circle are full of praise and admiration that I'm even contemplating doing this but are fully supportive, including my own GP.

Life is never easy for anyone but even more difficult when you're challenged with health difficulties but I'm not one to sit back and let life pass me by without at least trying to better my situation. The possiblity of having it all pulled from under me by this group ATOS, who are well renowned for screwing people's lives up, is stress & anxiety provoking to say the least.

If what the guy further up the thread says is true then I'm hoping that I'll have sufficient time to settle into uni and see whether it's something I can realistically do before having to face the stress of a medical on top of it. Fingers crossed!

My health problems have been since the age of 12 when I started my periods. I get severe PMT for three quarters of most months. Not physical, but mental problems. Twenty eight years of it.

I've never tried to claim a single thing. Ever.

You base too much on the big bad guys ATOS pulling it out from you and and giving you stress and anxiety. The stress and anxiety you say you have is yours, not ATOS's doing. If you can face getting on a train every morning to travel to Uni, surely one interview wouldn't tip you over the edge?

DepressedInsomniac

Face1992 wrote: »

My health problems have been since the age of 12 when I started my periods. I get severe PMT for three quarters of most months. Not physical, but mental problems. Twenty eight years of it.

I've never tried to claim a single thing. Ever.

You base too much on the big bad guys ATOS pulling it out from you and and giving you stress and anxiety. The stress and anxiety you say you have is yours, not ATOS's doing. If you can face getting on a train every morning to travel to Uni, surely one interview wouldn't tip you over the edge?

Oh dear, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at this! You're trying to compare PMT with a severe mental illness :rotfl:

And as you appear incapable of reading, I'll just remind you that I won't be jumping on a train every morning to attend university. I give up!