Student finance help

mustbemad

Sorry to double post but I put this on the slc thread but no one seems to be reading it at he moment.

Hi all, when I logged onto the slc to enter the parental support details for my son's second year I realised that I had entered the wrong details last year :sad: I entered the 11/12 p60 instead of 10/11 which would have been lower. I phoned the helpline but I might as well have phoned my toddler for the help they were! They suggested that I should fill in the current income form for last year and they will reassess but the form doesn't seem to be at all relevant? Does this sound like the correct thing to do?

I also have another query, I'm not working now so I did the calculation to see if current income is 15% lower and it is, but only by £4. My question is if the current year income came in higher than I counted, will they go back to the 11/12 figure or will they just reassess on the actual current income?

Thanks for reading

MBM x

devildog

I did read your other post but wasn't sure of the answer.

This is technically what the regs say
Current year assessments


227. [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Where SFE is satisfied that the residual parental income in the tax year beginning immediately before the academic year to which the support application relates [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]("current tax year") is likely to be not more than 85% of their residual income in the tax year prior to the one immediately preceding that academic year, Schedule 4, paragraph 5(3) allows for the residual parental income to be calculated by reference to the current tax year. This can be done to enable the student to attend the course without hardship. The current year assessment will then be based on the parents‟ estimated residual income. In difficult cases where SFE cannot make a reasonable estimate, it may wish to consider making a provisional payment or payments, until the student has provided sufficient information to enable a reasonable estimate to be made. [/FONT]


[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][/FONT]228. [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]In the Department's view, once SFE has exercised its discretion to make a current year assessment, it cannot reverse its decision if it later transpires that the residual parental income in the current tax year is more than 85% of their income in the prior tax year. Where the assessment is initially based on provisional income figures, any later adjustment made in the light of more up-to-date information should be made on a current year basis. [/FONT][/FONT]

229. [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Where a parental contribution is assessed on a current year basis for one year of the course, this will revert to an income assessment based on the preceding tax year for the next year of the course and an income assessment based on the prior tax year for the third year of the course (unless there is another drop in income). This will mean that the same income will be used to assess the parent‟s contribution for three consecutive years. Where a current year income assessment is requested in two or more consecutive academic years, the current year income in the second or subsequent year will be compared to income data held by SFE for the previous financial year rather than the prior financial year, in order to ascertain if there has been a 15% drop in income. [/FONT][/FONT]

230. [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Under Schedule 4, paragraph 5(4), in an academic year immediately following one in which the parental income of the current financial year has been assessed, SFE must calculate entitlement using the income of the financial year that precedes the academic year being applied for, rather than the financial year that ended prior to the start of the preceding financial year. [/FONT][/FONT]

Double dutch or what
I have a feeling that a similar thing has already been asked and that the answer was that if a current year assessment was asked for they (SF) would then use that figure for any following years too, but not 100 % on that.
Hopefully Taiko will pop along and be able to advise correctly.

mustbemad

Thanks for the info, I couldn't find anything useful so I am grateful you could!

MBM x