Parental maintenance loan contribution if living abroad 22 August 2018 at 7:33AM in Student MoneySaving 7 replies 1.3K views

chiefie

Hi - just trying to understand the rules about household income if one parent lives abroad. Is this ex pat income still counted as ‘household income’ - the children will be living away for uni and going back to their uk home at non term time.
I’m getting confusing messages from student finance.
Just don’t want to get caught out if I interpret the rules the wrong way.
Thanks

[Deleted User]

Yes both parents income is counted regardless of where they live.

silvercar

_shel wrote: »

Yes both parents income is counted regardless of where they live.

That definitely isn't true if they have separated or divorced.

[Deleted User]

silvercar wrote: »

That definitely isn't true if they have separated or divorced.

She didn't say they had, just that one lives abroad.

Spendless

Are the parents together ie as in in a relationship? If they are then both incomes will count even if one lives abroad.

If they aren't together then it is the household income of the parent that the student lives with. If that parent has remarried or co-habits then the income of their new partner will also be taken into account.

agrinnall

_shel wrote: »

She didn't say they had, just that one lives abroad.

Yes, but your first post made it seem like both incomes are always counted, which is clearly not correct, so clarification may help the OP (and of course, clarification from them will help us to give appropriate responses).

chiefie

_shel wrote: »

Yes both parents income is counted regardless of where they live.

I’m wondering how they can confirm the actual income of a parent if they live abroad.
To be honest i expect to continue with a parental contribution voluntarily anyway as it keeps the loan value down (even though they are very unlikely to earn enough to pay it back).
But just wondered how they would know/challenge the income of a parent not in the uk

[Deleted User]

chiefie wrote: »

I’m wondering how they can confirm the actual income of a parent if they live abroad.
To be honest i expect to continue with a parental contribution voluntarily anyway as it keeps the loan value down (even though they are very unlikely to earn enough to pay it back).
But just wondered how they would know/challenge the income of a parent not in the uk

Because they have to declare it and can be asked for evidence.