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Somebody Please Tell Me What To Do
jonnywoods
Posts: 78 Forumite
Here's my situation:
I was a full-time student, living with my partner and our young son in a rented house. I was receiving housing benefit. I also got a standard student loan and some grants to do with being a parent who was studying.
My partner (and son) left in April 2018. I stayed in the house alone until Sept 2018, before moving in with family. Mentally, I was a bit of a mess and this could be why things have ended up the way they have.
At some point, the council asked for evidence of my student loan. They say I didn't provide it (I don't even remember). They landed me with a bill for housing benefit overpayment of £5,500. I provided student loan evidence to them in Jan 2019, and they managed to reduce that to £4,300. I still to this day don't understand where that figure has come from.
Recently, student loans have also told me I owe them somewhere around £1,800 for a grant repayment to do with childcare, for the period of April to September 2018 when my son was no longer living there. Seems fair enough. When I spoke to them about that though, they realised there was another bill owing of a similar amount from a previous student year. They haven't explained what on earth that's for, but I've requested it in writing.
My question is basically, what do I do? Where can I get actual advice on why the council could have possibly paid me so drastically incorrectly? I've got nothing to hide, but they just dismiss me and say I owe the money. I need someone to sit down with me and spell things out, with a full breakdown and timeline of events, but I cannot get the council to do that.
I was a full-time student, living with my partner and our young son in a rented house. I was receiving housing benefit. I also got a standard student loan and some grants to do with being a parent who was studying.
My partner (and son) left in April 2018. I stayed in the house alone until Sept 2018, before moving in with family. Mentally, I was a bit of a mess and this could be why things have ended up the way they have.
At some point, the council asked for evidence of my student loan. They say I didn't provide it (I don't even remember). They landed me with a bill for housing benefit overpayment of £5,500. I provided student loan evidence to them in Jan 2019, and they managed to reduce that to £4,300. I still to this day don't understand where that figure has come from.
Recently, student loans have also told me I owe them somewhere around £1,800 for a grant repayment to do with childcare, for the period of April to September 2018 when my son was no longer living there. Seems fair enough. When I spoke to them about that though, they realised there was another bill owing of a similar amount from a previous student year. They haven't explained what on earth that's for, but I've requested it in writing.
My question is basically, what do I do? Where can I get actual advice on why the council could have possibly paid me so drastically incorrectly? I've got nothing to hide, but they just dismiss me and say I owe the money. I need someone to sit down with me and spell things out, with a full breakdown and timeline of events, but I cannot get the council to do that.
0
Comments
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Hi Jonny
Personally in this situation I would advise making an appointment with Citizen's Advice; they can offer you free and impartial advice, and may be able to assist in escalating this within the council if they believe you don't owe the money.
I hope it all works out!0 -
Some Student loans/grants are counted as income for means tested benefits.
https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Student-Support/How-does-student-support-affect-benefits#guide-content
As has been advised you need to get some expert advice regarding this because students and benefits are very complicated.0
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