Housing Benefit?

NewUserHere

I'm going in to FT education (by which it's actually only about 16 hrs at college across the week). I'm 27, my child and OH who works also.
I work also (self-employed) but this will mean a significant reduction in my wage.

I've read about HB (my calculations showed I might get about £25/week which is better than nothing imo), but is it right as a FT student also I cannot claim? I'd still be working about 20-30hrs per week (even if my takehome is derisory!!).

Or can my partner make a claim and would FT education come in to it still?

Also ---
my income will vary. Term time will be quite a consistent amount but outside of term time i'll be going back to my usual 50hrs, so do I just keep telling them when this happens? As obviously I won't get anything (rightfully of course) when i'm back FT during this week. Will it just affect that period or will they say, you earned £550 that month (£250 for full week + £100pw for other 3 weeks) and ask me to pay back previous weeks or is it based solely on current earnings and not looking back?
(hope that makes sense)

BigAunty

It is usually only single students without disabilities or dependents that don't qualify for housing benefit, AFAIK. Calculations for means tested benefits will be based on your joint household income, including the majority of student related income you receive (I believe a small sum is deducted from the calculations based on the cost of books or something similar).

Caz3121

NewUserHere wrote: »

I've read about HB (my calculations showed I might get about £25/week which is better than nothing imo)

did you factor in student finance and loans (whether you take or not) many of the calculators are not much good for students but, as BigAunty says they will include much of this as income

fluffymovie

As you have a child, you would be eligible for HB but you will not be considered a full time student for Ctax purposes as that requires 21 hrs of study a week.

Any student finance you would have an entitlement to take, such as a student loan will be considered income, as well as your s.e earnings. A small amount is disregarded in respect of books and travel and we also disregard £10 of the remaining weekly total. We would be required to use student loans even if you were entitled to take one but chose not to.

As regards the fluctuating earnings, this can vary as the regs actually say that when someone ceases to qualify, their award should stop and therefore you would need to reclaim at the end of each period of higher earnings. Not all LA's operate this way though so I would ask your local council for advice.

NewUserHere

Caz3121 wrote: »

did you factor in student finance and loans (whether you take or not) many of the calculators are not much good for students but, as BigAunty says they will include much of this as income

Thanks for the reply.
There is no finance or loans available for my course. I'm doing a Level 2 automotive engineering course at a college and paying the tuition fees myself as L2 doesn't qualify for the +24 learning loan.

NewUserHere

fluffymovie wrote: »

As regards the fluctuating earnings, this can vary as the regs actually say that when someone ceases to qualify, their award should stop and therefore you would need to reclaim at the end of each period of higher earnings. Not all LA's operate this way though so I would ask your local council for advice.

Many thanks.
I don't object to it stopping completely when i'm earning more.. but my query relates to the way it is calculated.

If say September/October I earn £120pw - so £960 (Well slightly more - about £1050) for the 2 months and say I qualify for £100 per month housing benefit support. Then November I have half term for two weeks, work all the hours poss and earn £500 + £120pw for second half - so November £740. Thus not entitled to HB for the 2 weeks but possibly entitled for second two weeks

Will they say:
you are not entitled it for two weeks of November
OR
your earnings for the last 3 months have been £1740, and would have therefore only been entitled to £10/week and not the £25pw for the 10 weeks paid, so please repay us £x amount you should not have got


Hope this makes sense, trying to suss how it works, whether they look at a bigger picture or take my income each week/fornight/4weekly etc etc

NewUserHere

Any advice guys? Really not sure how all this works