student independent status help

parikoo

I have started uni again this year aged nearly 23. I have worked for the last 4 years earning only around 5k a year, lived at home can anyone tell me what the minimum amount would be to be classed as independent for the L.E.A I really need financial help.. or advice.. thank you

[Deleted User]

You need to be either;

25 before the start of the course.
Married/civil partnered
A parent
Self supporting for 3 years before the start of the course
Estranged from parents

You don't meet the age requirement and you are not going to be able to be classified as self-supporting if you were living with your parents.

You can apply to your Uni's Access to Learning Fund (aka Financial Aid/Hardship fund etc). This will be based on YOUR income not your parents'.

Your Uni or Students' Union should have money/debt advisers who can help you with this.

roxalana

As Shivster has said - it is very unlikely that you will qualify for independence on the basis of self support if you have been living with your parents BUT not impossible.
It will depend on a number of factors, but may still be worth you applying to your local authority for indepedent status. I would start with writing to them to ask if they can consider you as independent with details of your employment (including dates of employment, name & address of employer and how much you earned) and backed up by P60s and/or wageslips as evidence of your income.

Your LEA can then let you know if this is sufficient. However, if your parents are on a low income it may not be worth your while anyway (but get your parents to provide their financial information).

Hope this helps

parikoo

thank you roxalana and shivster for your comments.

I have done all that you have mentioned but the lea say i have "indirectly been supported by my parents" and that my income which was just over 400 per month was not enough, I was wondering does anybody know if there is a minimum amount? I have written them 5 letters and the next will be a complaint, in other words i am taking them on.

[Deleted User]

As far as I know there is no set 'minimum' but to be honest, I've never had a client be able to prove independent status whilst they have been living at home. The only way I can think that you *may* be able to prove it is if you had a rent agreement with your parents at a market-rate for the area and you were financially contributing to food/bills as if you were living in a shared house. Otherwise the LEA *will* be able to say your parents were 'indirectly' supporting you by subsidising rent/food/bills.

In fact, until fairly recently, even if you had a child you weren't classed as independent if you were living with your parents.

By all means give it a go, I would if I were you! But I wouldn't get your hopes up too high.

Good luck

ElleBelle_3

If you want to read that actual law that applies to independent student status it is here: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1998/81166--a.htm and it explains it better than i could and also you know were you stand in the black and white side of the law and whether it's worth pursing as obviously if you don't there's nothing the local authority can do.

I know personally that I was told i didn't earn enough to live on, but i challenged them to this as the law does not state how much you need to earn but how you earn your money (for me due to the benefit clause I qualified and they backed down!) but my circumstances were different than yours. You can get it in these circumstances whether you live at home or not if according to the law you are an 'independant student'

It's so useful to look up the staturary instruments for these things i've found, hardly anyone i know knows of the rule that if you have recieved incapacity benefit for 3 yrs before you started you course you can be classed this way and the student finace forms are so ambiguous!

anyway, good luck, sorry i can be no help except to show you the law, i guess at least you will know if you are classed as one or not though!

Good luck!

Elle