Undergraduate: Income Support/Housing Benefit?

BCD

Hello there,
I would appreciate a bit of advice on the following problem, if you can help.
From September, I will be studying for my first degree at university, and as I am 26, I am classed as a mature student. However, due to illness, I have been unable to work since leaving school, and I am currently getting Income Support (I have had this benefit since 2004). The medical people I see are encouraging me to go to uni', but are not so keen on me going to work, unfortunately. I have been awarded the full tuition fees loan and the highest rate of maintenance grant. I have around £1000 in savings.
My questions:
1-The course is classed as full time, yet is only 16 hours a week. Would I still be eligible to receive Income Support?
2-If I get myself a privately rented flat/maisonette (for example), would I be entitled to Housing Benefit? And if so, is there a maximum amount that I can get?
3-Would the benefit people look at it and think "If he's well enough to go to uni', he's well enough to go to work"?
Many, many thanks for your advice.
Chris

GlasweJen

There are rules about students recieving housing benefit, I believe you have to be in reciept of the care component of DLA and they will take in any grant or bursary money as income but will disregard the loan.

Oldernotwiser

Full time students are ineligible to receive benefits unless they are disabled or lone parents. You should take out the maintenance loan and check out any specific bursaries at the university where you'll be studying. You may also be eligible for the Disabled Students Allowance and the Access to Learning Fund. You can find information on these on https://www.direct.gov.uk.

This funding should prove adequate to support yourself, although halls of residence or a house share are more likely to be appropriate accommodation options.Good luck.

jul22

Assuming that you are claiming IS because you are sick, any student loan will be taken into account and will probably nill your claim for IS.

I can't comment on the HB Benefit or IB side, hopefully someone else will be able to help you there.

Oldernotwiser

jul22 wrote: »

Assuming that you are claiming IS because you are sick, any student loan will be taken into account and will probably nill your claim for IS.

I can't comment on the HB Benefit or IB side, hopefully someone else will be able to help you there.

This will be true of any means tested benefits and the OP is ineligible for IB because of the lack of contributions. The student loan is counted as income even if you don't take it out as it's money available to you.

grimupnorth_2

Basically to claim IS or HB you will have to meet a qualifying criteria, which by the sounds of it you do. However when assessing means-tested benefits, including HB and IS they will take into account all student income that isn't for a specific purpose and is designed for general living costs. This means that they will take the Student Loan into account and also possibly the Maintenance Grant. Any grants like Childcare Grant, Parents Learning Allowance or your University's Bursary should not be taken into account as they are designed for a specific purpose.

The student loan will be taken into account regardless of whether you choose to take it out or not, so there's no much point in not having it.

Any disability related benefits like InCap or DLA should not be effected by student income, but you should of course check with the relevent agency.

tom9980

BCD wrote: »

due to illness, I have been unable to work since leaving school, and I am currently getting Income Support (I have had this benefit since 2004). The medical people I see are encouraging me to go to uni', but are not so keen on me going to work, unfortunately.

I'm in a similar position, its not easy just get as much advice as possible from as many sources as you can often the advice conflicts and you get plenty of wrong/right advice it can get very very confusing, i hope you manage to find someone who knows what they are talking about it makes things so much easier.

BCD wrote: »

1-The course is classed as full time, yet is only 16 hours a week. Would I still be eligible to receive Income Support?

In 2003 i decided to rebuild my life a little (6 years after first falling ill) and go to college it was a full time 16 hour course like yours as well. At the time i was still at home with my parents and got IS i was given the advice by various people to enrole on the course as part time, all of this was sorted out with advice from tutors, Dial and the Jobcentre people simple we just ticked the part time box on the enrolling form, might be an idea to check this out though im sure there have been some rule changes that might have affected this.

grimupnorth wrote: »

This means that they will take the Student Loan into account and also possibly the Maintenance Grant. Any grants like Childcare Grant, Parents Learning Allowance or your University's Bursary should not be taken into account as they are designed for a specific purpose.

The student loan will be taken into account regardless of whether you choose to take it out or not, so there's no much point in not having it.

They do indeed take the loan into account as income even if you dont claim it they also take into account my partners Maintenance Grant as well i could only get them to disregard around £560 for her expenses such as travel, CRB checks and books. But heres the funny part her first year of Uni they didnt take her maintenance grant into account as income despite me telling them about all of our income and even giving them the forms that clearly showed everything. The Second year when i updated our income because her loan amounts changed by £50 or so they reduced our IS significantly because they included it apart from the £560 expenses to cover her travel and books etc, It was quite a shock.

If i were you id get some advice from CAB, Dial or Able and then schedule an appointment with someone at the jobcentre and just explain to them how difficult your life has been since leaving school and you are trying with doctors advice to rebuild it by going to Uni they should be willing to help you out and sort things out for you. But please do be prepared and do the research and document EVERYTHING when you make a phone call write it down to who and why, even write down when you get advice from other sources i regret not doing that myself now but it could be helpful if things get tricky.

Also they count her loan as income for 42 weeks of the year not 52 the 10 weeks are for the summer holidays at which point our IS rises to the max again took us over a year to figure this out and we got a back payment because they made a mistake.

I wish you luck working this out its stress that ill people dont need yet everytime i deal with the jobcentre about IS its nothing but hassle, and poor or conflicting advice.