ESA for student forced by illness to interupt studies?

kitten

Good morning, I wasn't sure whether this was best posted here or in the student section, but I could really use some advice about my 21 yr old son.

He is in the third & final year of his degree, living in a shared, rented house where the tenancy runs until the end of June. He receives student maintenance and tuition loans, plus a small grant (only £300 for the year) based on our family income.

In December 13 he contracted a very nasty virus which has left him with long-term illness. He should make a full recovery, but it will take several more months. Despite his best efforts, he just can't complete his degree this year so has reluctantly decided to suspend his studies for this year, and re-start the full final year in Sept 2014 (he hasn't been able to attend a single lecture since December so even if he made a miraculous recovery overnight, he would probably fail). His uni are supportive of this and will try to help getting this year's tuition fees carried forward to next year, so hopefully that won't be a problem. However, they haven't been able to advise on the maintenance side of things.

We assume (rightly or wrongly, and I realise we need to speak to Student Finance) that he won't be entitled to the third instalment of maintenance grant/loan which is due after Easter. That leaves him with no income to live on and rent to pay on a house that he can't live on because he is too ill to care for himself there. Since December he has been splitting his time between home (we live hours away) and his girlfriend's house. She has been lovely and cared for him brilliantly, but they are not a committed couple or anything and would not have been living together were it not for his condition.

Would he be able to claim ESA? PIP? HB for the rented house that he can't live in? We will help out financially as much as we can, but we are on a low income ourselves and this will cripple us

His health is our main priority obviously, but the financial side is just adding to the worry for all of us.

Thanks for reading and for any advice you can offer.

pmlindyloo

kitten wrote: »

Good morning, I wasn't sure whether this was best posted here or in the student section, but I could really use some advice about my 21 yr old son.

He is in the third & final year of his degree, living in a shared, rented house where the tenancy runs until the end of June. He receives student maintenance and tuition loans, plus a small grant (only £300 for the year) based on our family income.

In December 13 he contracted a very nasty virus which has left him with long-term illness. He should make a full recovery, but it will take several more months. Despite his best efforts, he just can't complete his degree this year so has reluctantly decided to suspend his studies for this year, and re-start the full final year in Sept 2014 (he hasn't been able to attend a single lecture since December so even if he made a miraculous recovery overnight, he would probably fail). His uni are supportive of this and will try to help getting this year's tuition fees carried forward to next year, so hopefully that won't be a problem. However, they haven't been able to advise on the maintenance side of things.

We assume (rightly or wrongly, and I realise we need to speak to Student Finance) that he won't be entitled to the third instalment of maintenance grant/loan which is due after Easter. That leaves him with no income to live on and rent to pay on a house that he can't live on because he is too ill to care for himself there. Since December he has been splitting his time between home (we live hours away) and his girlfriend's house. She has been lovely and cared for him brilliantly, but they are not a committed couple or anything and would not have been living together were it not for his condition.

Would he be able to claim ESA? PIP? HB for the rented house that he can't live in? We will help out financially as much as we can, but we are on a low income ourselves and this will cripple us

His health is our main priority obviously, but the financial side is just adding to the worry for all of us.

Thanks for reading and for any advice you can offer.

It is extremely important that your son contacts the university about this as there may be funds that he can access.

This is Nottingham's information about suspended studies:

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studentservices/documents/suspended.pdf

You must do this before you apply for any state benefits as any loans awarded will be counted as income.

Having said that it is very unusual for a student who has suspended his studies to be entitled to benefits as they are still classed as full time students.

As regards his housing can he speak to his fellow tenants and see if there is anyone else who can take over his tenancy? (with permission of the landlord, of course - they are usually very helpful in such circumstances)

To claim PIP you have to be expected to have the illness for 9 months after you apply. You can google to find out more.

(I believe you can claim ESA if you are a full time student but you would have to be receiving DLA or PIP to qualify. )

Hopefully the university will be able to help.

whodathunkit

I doubt very much that the university will allow him to carry over his tuition fees to next year but he should be eligible for another full year's funding, both for maintenance and tuition, so long as he has had only 3 years' so far.

rogerblack

As to ESA.
Unfortunately - as mentioned above - you cannot claim ESA when a student - unless you are in receipt of DLA or PIP.

You have to have permanently withdrawn from the course.

He will not qualify for PIP - if he is expected to recover before Dec 14.

There isn't a good solution here that I'm aware of.
The 'least bad' would be if he can 'permanently withdraw' - that is that he is not expected to return - and the university would be willing to take students in his position back at a later date.
Then he could in principle claim ESA-income-based, and possibly housing benefit.

This may however obviously cause issues with student finance.

nad1611

What should have happened here is that your son should have been directed to DSA. If he qualified they can help towards paying for things like note takers and other equipment such as computers and software which can help, for example software that can take a verbal order and write it out for you, which would have been very helpful for your son. If you feel that his condition is likely to continue you can apply here and given the summer break is coming up it's a good time to get it sorted, if he qualifies he'll be assessed by an assessment centre by Student Finance. They'll take particular note of what your son's needs are and fit things around his needs.

https://www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowances-dsas/overview

I know that doesn't solve your son's housing problems now. If he's living between your house and his girlfriends, it will be tricky given that he's supposed to be living in the house he's getting Benefit for, so they may prove difficult. Students can get 4yrs funding so that won't be a problem, but obviously you'll have to apply again and the maintenance would be aplied as if your son was simply doing a 4yr course, I think this is all going to have to come from you. I'm not sure the Uni can actually change anything withouot yours and your son's involvement. So simply apply as you have been doing and add a covering letter about your sons health and that you have applied for DSA.
Whilst applying for the DSA it may be well worth describing what's happened to your son and see what they say. I would imagine that your sons funding will continue for the remainder of the year.I believe it's due in a few weeks? It's a difficult one because you may have been able to claim ESA if your son wasn't returning to Uni in September.

Has your son officially suspended his course? If so he can have up to 60 days funding after the suspension, so that may be enough if he suspends now to cover his next lot of payments, obviously there are lots of ifs and buts as it's difficult without knowing all the facts. Anyway start with the DSA application and you should speak to the Welfare Body of the Uni so they're aware of his situation. They are very used to your sons situation and will be able to advise you properly.

This might be worth doin too, if all else fails or just as a starting point,you can write to this address as your sons gets a grant I imagine your financial situation means he was awarded this, so that would seem to be good cause for applying for discretion given his financial situation;
The Discretionary Payments Team
Student Finance England
PO Box 210
Darlington
DL1 9HJ
Points to include:
1.Reason for suspension and evidence if this is due to ill health or other extenuating circumstances
2.Length of suspension
3.Evidence of financial hardshi
p e.g. 3 months bank statements; a copy of your rent agreement


Good luck with this, I know from our own experience that it can be a stressful time but we found everyone was very helpful.

rogerblack

nad1611 wrote: »

It's a difficult one because you may have been able to claim ESA if your son wasn't returning to Uni in September.

Suspending the course is not adequate for ESA.
He needs to permanently withdraw.

nad1611

Obviously my wording confused but that was the point of what I said basically the fact that he's returning in September wouldn't make him eligible for ESA, but good to clarify that for OP.
Hopefully if they contact DSA and student finance as above there will be a better outcome.

fluffymovie

For Housing Benefit, he would be considered an intercalating student - this is a bit of guidance on that...


Intercalating students


Students who take time out from their coursebecause of illness or caring responsibilities, intending to resume it at alater date, are known as ‘intercalating’ students. Because they have not finallyabandoned the course they still count as full-time students for benefitpurposes and therefore do not normally qualify for HB/CTB.

However, intercalatingstudents can become eligible if they:

Ø Interruptedtheir studies with the approval of the educational establishment, and

Ø Haverecovered from illness or caring responsibility has finished, and

Ø Arenot permitted to return to their course, and

Ø Arenot entitled to a student loan until they return to their course

If thestudent fits the above criteria, HB,CTRS and JSA can all be claimed until theyreturn to their course, or a year has gone by since their illness or caring hadfinished.


Example: A studentstarted their course in September 2012. They became ill and could not returnfor the summer term in 2013. The university allowed them to suspend studies.The student recovered in November 2013, but was not allowed to return untilSummer 2014. For this period, the student can claim HB, CTRS and JSA

kitten

Thank you all for your replies, which all really helped me work through the fog. It seemed rude not to give an update, feel free to ignore .

PMLindyloo. Thank you, that factsheet is brilliant.
The landlord will not terminate early and says he can't find a replacement tenant so close to the year end . You are correct that he can't claim HB (or ESA, or anything really!) so we are stuck with the rent (but see below). We have requested a PIP form because we don't know how the illness will pan out, but obviously we HOPE he won't be entitled to that one!

Whodathunkit Yes, you're right, I misunderstood what my son told me. The tuition fees don't carry over but he can reapply next year. 25% of this year's fees are payable, so will be included in his loan total, but the rest will be refunded by the uni to Student Finance - ready to borrow again next year.

Rogerblack Thanks. Based on your suggestion he did query whether he would be better to permanently withdraw, rather than suspend. From a benefits viewpoint it does seem preferable, but the anxiety of not being guaranteed a place in September outweighed the financial aspect.

Nad1611 Thanks for the DSA info. This is something we are now looking into, although his condition will hopefully improve before Sept 2014.
Apparently his student loan funding will stop immediately, but he is entitled to the 60 day run-on you mention. We are applying also to their Discretionary Payments Team to see if they are able to help.

Fluffymovie Thank you for the intercalating student info, very interesting. In our case though it won't apply, because his tenancy will end at the end of June and sadly he won't be recovered by then .

The other thing we have applied for (on the advice of uni) is for a grant from the Access To Learning Fund which I had never heard of, but they can sometimes grant pots of money to help students in exceptional circumstances. It's a bit of a long-shot, but worth a go.

The uni have been really helpful and supportive, which has made this whole nightmare a bit easier. We will just have to tighten our belts a bit and be grateful that it is only a relatively temporary thing. Thanks again for all your advice, it has been very much appreciated x