Adult Dependants Grant - refused but on what grounds?

Poppy9

Yockie wrote: »

flea72, that is the point I am making. SFE thinks she has more than £4000.00 BECAUSE they count the DLA, the Housing Benefit, the Council Tax, the CB and the CTC as part of that £4000.00. If they disregarded those it would be less than £4000.00.
And as far as I gathered, the idea of the ADG is that it is extra help on top of the (may I point out) less than £7000.00 I get in maintenance. Those exactly £6484 are for my needs as a student, not for the adult that depends on me. In effect, I am now disadvantaged compared to my peers, because they can spend all their maintenance on their needs, and I obviously cannot.
P.S. I am happy to help my mother out with or without the ADG, but I am just saying it does make a difference on how we'll live for the duration of this course I am on...

I have just had to go through Student finance for my DD.

Only I work in the household and from my salary comes mortgage, council tax, utility bills, car insurance, car tax etc. on top of that it has to feed and clothe 3 adults and final insult I have to hand over a fair portion to the tax man!!!. Should this be disallowed like your mother's benefits for Student Finance purposes?

DD has gone away to Uni as her course is not available locally.DD has had her tuition fee loan - she's Welsh, so Welsh Govt. subsidise fees down to just under £4k per year.

Aside from that she has a total of just under £6k from Student loans/maintenance grant to fund her accommodation - £4600, plus £200 returnable deposit, plus £50 hall fees so she has to live off less than £1000 for 10 months - I think I worked it to £23.25 per week. Obviously she could never buy her books, feed herself, buy toiletries, socialise, pop home etc. on this. Plus she has to pay £3 per load to do her laundry.

She has secured a p/t job that will give her and extra £120 per month.

She doesn't have enough to live off so we will top her up not because we have spare cash but because I don't want her to live in poverty.

I really don't think you are disadvantaged to your peers. DD said a lot of fellow students have accommodation fees that are higher than their student loans. They didn't choose this, they applied for accommodation they could afford but it was over subscribed.

Perhaps you could get a part time job if household money is so tight.

Yockie

Hi all,

I can see this question of mine has really rubbed some of you the wrong way. Whilst I appreciate all your suggestions about me working extra, what you dont seem to appreciate is that I already DO work 2 things. I am a full-time student and a full-time carer (my mother receives the highest components of the DLA, which you may have gathered by the fact she takes part in the Motability Scheme). However, I am unpaid for both jobs. For the first, I am taking money on loan from SFE and for the other: I do it because its my family. If I get a part-time (or even full-time) job elsewhere (i.e. not care for my mum), someone else will have to be paid and come and help her. Dont know how many of you aware, but "Unpaid carers save £119 billion a year" (reference here http://www.carersuk.org/newsroom/item/2121-unpaid-carers-save-%C2%A3119-billion-a-year ). So I think the government, through SFE, could have afforded to pay me those little bit extra money through the ADG, also considering the fact that they stopped my Carer's Allowance, because I am in full-time education. Its almost as if they are punishing me for wanting to do something for myself (get an education) whilst providing care!

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

You make your point well enough, Yockie.

Maybe I am too impatient for change, but I sometimes think what we generally see posted all through the Student Money Saving forum is the ouput of sheep going Baa! Sheep don't like to think they might be hustled first one way or then another. They'd rather stand together blinking and chewing the little grass they are given within the corrals or pens they find themselves in, no matter how small, trying not to get singled out for the particular attention of the shepherd or the sheepdog, and hoping none amongst them breaks ranks and causes any upset. A quiet place in the field is all they desire

nimbo

Yockie wrote: »

Hi all,

I can see this question of mine has really rubbed some of you the wrong way. Whilst I appreciate all your suggestions about me working extra, what you dont seem to appreciate is that I already DO work 2 things. I am a full-time student and a full-time carer (my mother receives the highest components of the DLA, which you may have gathered by the fact she takes part in the Motability Scheme). However, I am unpaid for both jobs. For the first, I am taking money on loan from SFE and for the other: I do it because its my family. If I get a part-time (or even full-time) job elsewhere (i.e. not care for my mum), someone else will have to be paid and come and help her. Dont know how many of you aware, but "Unpaid carers save £119 billion a year" (reference here http://www.carersuk.org/newsroom/item/2121-unpaid-carers-save-%C2%A3119-billion-a-year ). So I think the government, through SFE, could have afforded to pay me those little bit extra money through the ADG, also considering the fact that they stopped my Carer's Allowance, because I am in full-time education. Its almost as if they are punishing me for wanting to do something for myself (get an education) whilst providing care!

if this is the case - why not allow your mother to have a paid carer come in, and look after some of her day to day needs while you get a paid job

Yes it is family - but I am sure she would understand, and that there must be many aspects of her care that could be seen to by a professional?

Dunroamin

If money is such a problem, wouldn't it have been simpler to have studied part time alongside caring for your mother?

What will happen to her when you finish university and are working?

Yockie

TurnUpForTheBooks: :T It looks like you are the only one on my side. Thank you. Its nice to see that I am not alone in my thinking! :wave::beer:

nimbo: Why complicate thing further? I like to care for my mother, she prefers it when I care for her, why should I pay for someone else to do it, when I am happy to do it myself? We are happy with our living arrangement and so I dont see why I should be changing that. Just so that two more people can be shown on the statistic as being employed (me and the person who would come to care for my mother). Plus, what kind of a job do you expect me to get (whilst studying full-time) that would allow me to afford paying for carers to come in? Most student jobs are barely above national minimum wage, whilst private care is a lot more above that! Thing would only get more confusing and complicated I feel if I were to do what you suggest.

Dunroamin: Nothing will change when I finish uni and get a job, because I am out of the house for what is a full-time working week as it is. I am a full-time student and so spend all the weekdays out of the house 8 til 4. What will change is that I will have more money, unlike now, because at the moment I am using someone else's finance (SFE) to live on, whilst then I will be able to earn my own way in life. But in terms of time commitments: all the same, I am afraid!

nimbo

Yockie wrote: »

nimbo: Why complicate thing further? I like to care for my mother, she prefers it when I care for her, why should I pay for someone else to do it, when I am happy to do it myself? We are happy with our living arrangement and so I dont see why I should be changing that. Just so that two more people can be shown on the statistic as being employed (me and the person who would come to care for my mother). Plus, what kind of a job do you expect me to get (whilst studying full-time) that would allow me to afford paying for carers to come in?

You had previously said you got carers allowance which stopped when you became a full time student - couldn't your mother use this to pay someone, which is what it would be intended for, thus allowing you some spare time to gain paid employment?

Most student jobs are barely above national minimum wage, whilst private care is a lot more above that! Thing would only get more confusing and complicated I feel if I were to do what you suggest.

!

I wasn't trying to confuse the issue more - you seem to think that £720 isn't enough to live on, and was trying to come up with ways to improve your income.

I wish you well on your course.

Poppy9

Yockie wrote: »

TurnUpForTheBooks: :T It looks like you are the only one on my side. Thank you. Its nice to see that I am not alone in my thinking! :wave::beer:

nimbo: Why complicate thing further? I like to care for my mother, she prefers it when I care for her, why should I pay for someone else to do it, when I am happy to do it myself? We are happy with our living arrangement and so I dont see why I should be changing that. Just so that two more people can be shown on the statistic as being employed (me and the person who would come to care for my mother). Plus, what kind of a job do you expect me to get (whilst studying full-time) that would allow me to afford paying for carers to come in? Most student jobs are barely above national minimum wage, whilst private care is a lot more above that! Thing would only get more confusing and complicated I feel if I were to do what you suggest.

Dunroamin: Nothing will change when I finish uni and get a job, because I am out of the house for what is a full-time working week as it is. I am a full-time student and so spend all the weekdays out of the house 8 til 4. What will change is that I will have more money, unlike now, because at the moment I am using someone else's finance (SFE) to live on, whilst then I will be able to earn my own way in life. But in terms of time commitments: all the same, I am afraid!

It's not about being on your side but you don't seem to have reacted well to other posters telling you that you are not worse off than your peers and you are no more hard done by than the average full time students.

Forums don't work with someone posts a whinge and everyone agrees. Some responders shoot you down for your whinging, others offer constructive advice, albeit you might not like that advice and others will agree with you but will not offer any advice.

So you have to ask what you were looking for in posting. Did you want constructive advice or just sympathy?

jacques_chirac

Yockie wrote: »

TurnUpForTheBooks: :T It looks like you are the only one on my side. Thank you. Its nice to see that I am not alone in my thinking! :wave::beer:

Ironic that you thank the one person that has provided nothing of substance to this thread, simply because they agree with you. At university you'll need to back up your argument with fact, not belligerent ramble - you won't get far siding with those who rely on the latter.

flea72

Turnupforthrbooks also has an issue with SFE and the whole loan system. They are also a poster who only listens to people who agree with them, so they and the OP are well suited