the unfair child tax credit system

fellwalker09

I can't find a definite answer for this but having read the info on the tax credit site, as my son (18) is about to begin studying for a degree, we will lose our ctc. This isn't a huge amount of money per month but because of the fact that I've given up work to be his carer for the last 10 years due to his disability, it's rather a lifeline. On top of this, we will also lose the child benefit. I knew it would happen when he was 20, I'm just not ready for it now. His decision to do the degree was rather last minute. I'm not able to go back to work as he still needs me as a carer. He's studying from home with the Open University also because it's easier for him. He has cerebral palsy and is a wheelchair user also. He has multiple care needs.
What I find ridiculous is that I've read where a student in non advanced ed, say college, of 18/19 can also have a part time job and their parents still qualify for ctc. This would seem to be unfair, and rather discriminatory in a sense. My son has no hope of securing a job now, and who knows about in the future. He's going to need support. All in all from next month we will lose around £300 per month. Now I'm trying to see what work I can do from home to make this up -and it's not easy and it's not going to be a quick fix either. Anyone else know about this 'loophole' in the ctc system?

Icequeen99

I wouldn't say it was a loophole.

Presumably he will be able to claim some benefits in his own right?

Have you had an assessment from social services to see if you can get some form of care that could support your son so that you can then work/leave the house? It wouldn't cost you anything (would be assessed on your son's income).

IQ

Shiloe

I agree with icequeen it's not a loophole it's simply the rules of CTC.

Have you explained the financial implications for you to your Son? As an adult he can choose to study a degree but at the same time it's not fair to expect the taxpayer to continue paying CHILD tax credit for your Son who is doing a degree course at uni.

merlin68

Isn't he still at school or college till july? Also when i did ou most courses started in october. He can claim esa when you loose ctc.

specialboy

What where you planning to do when he was 20?

nannytone_2

presumably he gets dla?
Do you claim carers allowance?

fellwalker09

Thanks for all of your replies. I can see that my message sounds awful -or rather makes me sound bad. Yes, he gets dla and yes, I get the £61.35 per week carers allowance. My husband is our main worker (full time and 55-70 hours per week with overtime if he can get it). The cost of living has escalated and my hubby is not in a high earning job -average. We have a mortgage still and food bills have escalated along with other costs over the last 3-5 years. Same for everyone. In 2 years time, what would I be doing then? Well, same as now, trying to find some work I can do from home; it gave me time for this to grow. It's not easy to earn £50 if you don't know how., I'm trying to work out all the home job sites, ie surveys etc -many of which pay 40p for a 7 min survey and they don't have many listings. I got these from the forum here somewhere.
My son has had an assessment recently for benefits check and was told he's not eligible for any as firstly he's a student and secondly he's not looking for work. No, my son is not at school -he was home educated and his uni course starts 30th Jan.
And, please can anyone point out what I'm missing here - it's clearly a satisfactory rule for a college student's parent to qualify for ctc until that student is 20, but not for a student doing a degree. I don't see the difference? What I do see are families being granted money for longer and their children also being allowed to make earnings. I can't see why it's cut off just because you begin a degree course. Sorry if I'm being thick. And if it does really boil down to rules set by the DWP, then again, they do appear to be unfair because they discriminate in a way. But thanks for taking the time to reply.

Blackpool_Saver

Full time students who get DLA/PIP can claim income based ESA

Shiloe

Because you can do college part time but a uni course is full time. JSA rules for example are the same the minute you are a full time student your claim is closed. I think the benefit system sees it as if you can manage to complete a uni degree course then you don't need benefit handouts.

College is like further school for people who might need to top up their GCSEs etc or do an access course etc it's like an extension of high school however uni is a completely different level of schooling...does that help atall?

nannytone_2

as above.
The fact that he receives dla means that he can get esa.
So once he is in the main phase, he will be able to contribute towards household finances.
Do phone social services and ask for an adult assessment.
There may be support availab,e including help with equipment and direct payments to employ someone to be with your son for a few hours a week to allow you some time to work/unwind

callum9999

fellwalker09 wrote: »

Thanks for all of your replies. I can see that my message sounds awful -or rather makes me sound bad. Yes, he gets dla and yes, I get the £61.35 per week carers allowance. My husband is our main worker (full time and 55-70 hours per week with overtime if he can get it). The cost of living has escalated and my hubby is not in a high earning job -average. We have a mortgage still and food bills have escalated along with other costs over the last 3-5 years. Same for everyone. In 2 years time, what would I be doing then? Well, same as now, trying to find some work I can do from home; it gave me time for this to grow. It's not easy to earn £50 if you don't know how., I'm trying to work out all the home job sites, ie surveys etc -many of which pay 40p for a 7 min survey and they don't have many listings. I got these from the forum here somewhere.
My son has had an assessment recently for benefits check and was told he's not eligible for any as firstly he's a student and secondly he's not looking for work. No, my son is not at school -he was home educated and his uni course starts 30th Jan.
And, please can anyone point out what I'm missing here - it's clearly a satisfactory rule for a college student's parent to qualify for ctc until that student is 20, but not for a student doing a degree. I don't see the difference? What I do see are families being granted money for longer and their children also being allowed to make earnings. I can't see why it's cut off just because you begin a degree course. Sorry if I'm being thick. And if it does really boil down to rules set by the DWP, then again, they do appear to be unfair because they discriminate in a way. But thanks for taking the time to reply.

That's actually quite a substantial income - do you have a lot of disability-related expenses? I'd imagine if you're unable to see any ways to scale back spending, posting your budget on the relevant board (I believe it's the "Debt free wannabe" one - even though you're not strictly doing this to pay off debts!) should help. For instance you say your food bill has soared - mine's stayed about the same. Have you changed energy supplier recently? What do you pay for mobile/landline/TV/internet etc.? You certainly don't sound at all awful, but it might be more prudent to look at what money you can save instead of solely focussing on getting more of it, excluding making sure you move onto the relevant adult-benefits like ESA as explained by others above (sorry if you've already done all that and I'm just preaching at you!).

They are different because college is still secondary education, whereas university is a step higher. College straddles the border between childhood and adulthood, whereas university students are treated as adults - hence no more child benefits. The extension for college just gives some leeway for the people who have "failed" at school and want to work to improve it, or take a new direction. Once you've finished that and moved on, I don't think it's particularly reasonable to expect to still be treated as a child in the eyes of the DWP.