Maintenance Payments Ending

presumbly the twins will be applying for student finance and Dad will have to give details of income etc. Because they will be 18 and no longer under court ordered child maintenance future payments from their father for uni etc should be made direct to them.

But you just said your child costs more than £800 pm because he had complex needs but then explained that the complex needs are covered by the DLA, so which is it?

Or are you saying that £800 + £476 DLA + £100 CB, so £1376, is still not enough to cover your child's needs? Because that's a lot of money, before we even take means tested benefits into account.

Actually it csn be used for anything that benefits the child ,like food, clothing ,keeping a roof over their heads ,my son has been in receipt ofcit for over ten years I know what it can be used for.
In fact for many families it goes in the family pot along with everything else.

No, it's not. DLA is not my income. It goes on therapies, supplements, equipment and activities for my son. It's not for day to day, food, clothing, keeping a roof over his head etc.

Don't you want a system where parents are held suitably financially accountable for their children? Where parents need to contribute more than the state?

You said your earnings were £16,000 compared to your ex £47,000
But with DLA and UC it will be significantly more than that.

You want a system where a parent gets less in benefits because their ex pays child support?

What on earth does that have to do with the not 50% his father pays? If fathers were made to pay an appropriate amount, the benefits bill would be massively reduced.

Get over yourself im raising mine with zero maintenance

I assume you are in receipt of the DLA and UC ?
I also have a disabled child with complex needs and your UC won't be insignificant.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be argumentative here but since when is child maintenance from the father actually 50% of the costs? I don't understand. I have an income of £16k, he earns £47k, and all he pays is £400 a month which, when you have a disabled child with complex needs (who can't do overnights away from home) is nowhere near 50%. Are you not in the UK?

They are 18 and thus "adults". They should be working etc as best they can to help fund uni costs etc .... your agreement was made until 18 for good reason!

Yeah - that’s what most students at Uni do. My grandchildren all worked. Working part time doesn’t hurt them.🤷‍♀️

Thank you for clarifying. I am on the English system unfortunately. I don’t know much about the Welsh system so it’s interesting to compare.

It seems that students in Scotland don’t have to pay?

My DC will not get the full maintenance loan next year even though I am a single parent working F/T on min wage. The threshold is very low.

I can only speak from my own experience of the Welsh system which seems to be better. There’s no expected parental contribution but the grant is means tested. Each student gets the same amount but students on lower incomes have less to pay back.
From what people have said, the English system is not as good.

This is not my experience are you referring to the tuition loan. As far as I am aware, the maintenance loan starts reducing with a household income of £25K. So the child of a single parent working 40 hours a week in a min wage job would likely not even get the full loan.
It seems crazy to me but recent governments have continued to freeze the thresholds, they’ve been frozen since 2021 and I can’t understand how they can justify this with the cost of living, inflation and the rise in min wage.

Well bearing in mind they will have had the ability to vote for 2 years before reaching 18 shortly ...

Why would the money go through the spouse when the children are adults?

I agree that it's morally right to support your children as much as you can whilst they are in education but there has to be a cut off. An adult who has left home is not the legal responsibility of their parents regardless of marital status.

They are 18 not kids. They can make their own decisions on that surely?

It is not uncommon for financial order on divorce to make a court order to continue child maintenance when a child is still in full time education including uni either paid direct to spouse or shared if child returns home during breaks or to ex spouse if child lives at home where there is significant income discrepancy. Not all DC at uni can also work and it not fair that the resident parent on lower income bears all financial responsibility.

My autistic ADHD DC has struggled with his first year due to not being medicated awaiting a cardiac referral and DSA not providing agreed support and his summer break has been taken up by revision for retakes to allow progression to the next year.

His dad stopped maintenance when allowed to do so legally and hasn’t contributed a penny since because no court order is in place but could afford to do so as a higher rate tax payer.

Good fathers make good choices in the best interests of the child. It’s not a question of money but helping where you can. Not so good fathers who are relatively high earners need a firm hand via court order before they step up.

As they’re turning 18 they have to become a bit more responsible for themselves. It’s unusual for most families to financially support a child through uni and you should only do so if you can afford to.
If you can’t afford to fully financially support what they need, then you tell them what you can afford and either they need to get a bursary/grant/loan/job and/or speak to their father about how much he is willing or able to contribute.
They are not children anymore.

The situation for English students is indeed massively different from Welsh students. The reason there isn't uproar is probably that Welsh students are so few in numbers compared to English Students that most English people are unaware of the difference in funding.

On a separate topic, Low income people shouldn't be put off applying to Oxbridge, as the terms are shorter, the accommodation often cheaper and many of the colleges offer bursaries for students on lower incomes.

OK. I think I can see where some of the difference in perspective is coming from - if a Welsh student can get over £12K in a combination of grants and loans, then some work over the summer making it up to £14 or £15K would make it possible to 'do uni' without significant parental support. An English student with parents earning £60K would get c.£5K - a far larger shortfall to make up - so I think could have a reasonable expectation of parents contributing. (NOT that I think they should have to - there should be a system in place - like the Welsh one - where it is possible for an adult to go to uni independently). Btw, I wouldn't discourage lower income students from applying to Oxbridge - if they are on a full loan, then terms are shorter than elsewhere (8 weeks), there are lots of random bursaries, and the benefits are huge. A Sutton Trust study from a few years back found that even when factors like socio-economic background, previous educational attainment and attendance at a private or state school are taken into account, there is a very significant earning differential compared with other institutions. They will only become less elite if a broader cohort apply.

@MrsSunshine2b
Plus when you factor in that they are only really there for around 8-9 months of the year. My eldest was home at least 1-2 times a month as well because she was only an hour away. Using the argument about Oxford and Cambridge forbidding students from working, well everyone knows they are elitist which put DD2 off applying despite her school encouraging her to. The head of 6th form actually called me and said she should apply as a bright student from a single parent family and a disadvantaged postcode! However, by insisting students can’t have a part time job they are excluding many on lower incomes inadvertently. Not working was not an option for either of my DC. For those saying there aren’t any jobs, my DC never had any issues finding part time student work. They only graduated in 2023/4 so not as if things will have changed that much!

Unfortunately there is quite a difference. I've not looked into it in this much detail before, but it's better than I thought.

SD will only get £7684 which won't cover her expenses. There's another £500 ish because she has a younger brother living at home.

The "expected" contribution from parents is £2480. That's around £200pm so for separated parents, or £100 each pm which is reasonable.

I don't know whether @bumblecoach is on a much bigger income than us or if she felt her precious darlings couldn't survive at uni without fine wine and caviar, but I can't find any evidence that you're actually expected to contribute many £100s every month to your child's living costs.