Help!! I’m so worried!!

[Leanne1191]

Hi!

I need help and advice! I'll a single mum of three children and one has been diagnosed with ADHD. So I get carers allowance and his DLA

I am starting as a full time student on October and I have been awarded a maintenance loan, and I've been reading online that they take a huge amount of your universal credit off you because it's classed as an income even though it's a loan and you end up paying it back!

I'm soo worried about this because I don't want to be in a situation where I'm really struggling I mean I've got pay childcare top ups as it is and now I'm reading they literally take a majority of your benefits when you get the loan.

I personally think this is so unfair because it's a loan and I'm going to have to pay it back but then I don't want to take it if I'm going to worse off? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Does anyone know what sort of benefits I will get and what it don’t affect?

Someone please help me 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️

They do in tax ?

Thank you just want to know what I can claim to help towards all the costs that I’m going to have to pay in the future that’s all people if I come across rude I apologise 🧡💚

I’m going to be working while I do this but I can only do shifts around the kids when they go to their dads which is 3 nights a month…… I will ring up lots of places and stuff Monday and find out.

@Leanne1191 I haven’t read you full thread but this is my situation:

single parent studying full time Midwifery degree. It’s a long course so my maintenance loan is a tad under £15k a year. I get the NHS LSF of £7k a year (£5k standard and £2k parental top up)
I also get 85% of my childcare paid up to a cap but it covers 85% of full time for my one child.

I am still able to claim UC and and it’s reduced by about £800 a month for 10 months.

im not sure what course you are doing but if it’s anything that’s NHS, there is a lot of support.

Thank you for that info that’s helped a lot 😊

I am doing mental health nursing 😊 3 years with three children on my own currently in receipt of UC that is my situation.

I'm sorry to hear you ads has ADHD, it does make life more difficult.

Is the children's Dad on the scene? Is he contributing financially, physically?

if you have always wanted to be a nurse, did you not think about doing it before having three children?

I know that horse has already bolted and it seems has kicked the stable door on its way out, but honestly, you need to have a read if your own posts.

You don't want to struggle. Who do you think does? You don't want to get a student loan. Who do you think does?

Why do you appear to think the tax payer should fund you through your degree, but not everyone else!?

I’m also being out of pocket from the government too because they won’t be giving me my entitlement every month. It’s actually sickening!

'The Govt' (aka tax payers) - your entitlement?? You do sound exceedingly entitled. Benefits are there as a backstop! For people who need it!! They're not a god given right,

I presume you weren't forced to have three children?

Lots of working people are struggling, & it will not get better for many, for a long time. It's not up to the tax payer to pay your benefits AND fund your degree.

if their Dad isn't contributing, get that sorted!

Just be aware that you won't be able to fit the placement shifts in around the kids if that's what you mean - or do you mean bank shifts? Mental health you get an extra £1000 a year because it's a shortage area as well (as is all nursing but particularly mental health) the good news long term is there is quite fast career progression within mental health to aid retention.
Don't worry about those making comments such as 'you're in for a rude awakening ' that's not a very compassionate or supportive comment to a prospective nurse starting out and it's good that you want to progress and are ambitious . Sounds like you have been through a fair bit which will help you be resilient and empathetic to the vulnerable patient group you'll be working with.

@TaxiForMaxi

How on Earth do you feel that you've PAID this money already 'as it was deducted' from your benefit

???

BENEFITS are for people in NEED, tax payers money, to support people with the basics while they get on their feet (& rightly so) .

People on benefits better off on your course than working people - that just about sums up why people see their arse over the entitlement!!

I have old threads in this Mumsnet and the last two years have been hell, I was with my ex husband for over 8 years and we got married and cheated on me 6 months in, 3 months prior to that I lost my grandad, the emotional and mental abuse I suffered during our relationship was extremely awful (which I didn’t realise I was going through at the time as you never do when your in that box) he also put me through a lot of mental and emotional abuse after we split up too, I only found out he cheated on me because his auntie told me and he kept denying it was that and that he had done that, the man broke me and he put me through hell and back, he took me to court and he hasn’t paid child maintenance since October 2020 I have been in touch with CSA and they can’t seem to find his real earnings as he is self employed and has hid it all well, we are now divorced and that was horrible too. I have been through a lot as well as dealing with the fact he disowned my eldest son since being in his life since he was just under two, I’ve had my son struggle with his emotions and anger as well as his ADHD and him struggling in school. I’m not putting this down as sympathy vote as I don’t want peoples sympathy, this is my back ground. I still worked my ass off going to college as well as working bank shifts for the NHS too so I can get to where I am now. I didn’t want the fact that my marriage broke down to be a reason to not pursue my dream of becoming a nurse and doing the job I love and know I’m good at. All I asked for was some advice at getting the maximum help I can towards costs of child care and other things that I may be entitled too I’ve worked since I was 13 and only had to go on benefits due to my circumstances which I didn’t want to do as I’ve always been a worker. I want my kids to know you work your ass off and you get to places which is what happens, I want them to know that even I as a single mum I did it which I know I will. With mental I know once you qualify it’s easy to climb the bands up and up. I have worked for the NHS for three years as a health care assistant and have wanted to become a nurse since working in a residential dementia care home. 😊

🤦🏼‍♀️🙄 please read my most recent post.

I'm a little confused by your post, if you get a loan you aren't down on money as you have that instead of your benefits. And yes of course you should pay it back, like other people should if they earn enough (yes including me). You shouldn't get a loan as well as your UC. Everyone going to uni is trying to better themselves and earn more long term.

Ok. 😊

@LoveSpringDaffs get off your high horse, I AM a tax payer, have been a tax payer since I was 18, will be a tax payer until I retire. I received a small amount of benefits for 3 years whilst I did my training, which coupled with my student LOAN (that I’m paying back and will be for the next 23 years!) meant I could afford to complete my training and become a nurse.

You have totally misread my post in your rush to be so outraged. I wasn’t talking about people ‘on benefits’ being better off on my course, I have no idea if anyone was on benefits , I was talking about people on my course receiving more in student LOAN then they did employed as most worked in minimum wage care jobs before they started at uni . I was trying to offer reassurance to the OP that the student loan should be sufficient if she’s frugal for a few years. We were training to be nurses, most of us worked at 37.5 hour week on placements on wards for half the year so it was difficult to work in paid employment as well. ALL of us qualified and now are working as nurses, not like we were dossing on campus, getting pissed and smoking weed spending ‘tax payers money’.

So piss off you judgmental cow