Student status is preventing me from obtaining a refuge place. Pls help.

[Amgelima]

Hello everyone. I’m trying to divorce my DV husband who has also hurt our children. I have reported everything to police and CS.

I decided it would be best to go to a refuge with my children. I was offered a place but when they learned I am a doctoral student with full time student status they told me I can’t qualify for benefits and therefore cannot get a refuge place unless I can prove I have funds to cover it - and I cannot unless they will let me use credit cards. I have no access to money as all is controlled by my H and my student loan went purely to tuition). I have three children under the age of 9. I am almost finished with my degree - just 6 months of so to go. Should I drop out so I can qualify for benefits? I really hate to do that as it feels like DV is winning if I stop my degree due to DV. Any suggestions?

I am asking my IDVA for help as well but she doesn’t have the answers to this one. She said I could make an emergency homeless application to the council. I worry I won’t feel safe if I do that. The refuge sounds safer for my children and me. I don’t want H getting them until we have gone thru the courts and I know leaving is the most dangerous time with a DV relationship so I expect it to get worse and really want safety.

Thank you. Taking a pause will delay my qualification by quite a bit but it is an option. I asked yesterday and they confirmed I can do that. It’s crushing to have to do it bc I am in the home stretch, but I am considering it.

Thank you. Taking a pause will delay my qualification by quite a bit but it is an option. I asked yesterday and they confirmed I can do that. It’s crushing to have to do it bc I am in the home stretch, but I am considering it.

It might be that you have to balance housing security against that.

The doctoral loan is all rolled into together - there aren't separate amounts for maintenance and fees.

Universal Credit has rules for how to treat the postgraduate loans when calculating entitlement, though. So look into that.

The way that refuges and other supported housing the funded was changed 20 odd years ago. It was complicated but they basically had no choice but to make the support costs part of the rent that is charged to women.

Contact the main Refuge helpline. Somebody there should be able to look at all the different aspects of this together and advise you well.

refuge.org.uk/i-need-help-now/how-we-can-help-you/national-domestic-abuse-helpline/#:~:text=Speak%20to%20a%20member%20of,Call%200808%202000%20247.

How much of your doctoral loan have you used? If you've only used it for fees you should still have £10k or so left to borrow.

Aren't you getting any GTA work as a PhD - you should be.

I have a sneaky suspicion that PhDs can't access UC in the same way UGs can - it's something UCU should be arguing for, not the four fights

Finally ask your uni for hardship funding, and let you supervisor know. If you're close to being at writing up stage then a short break in study shouldn't be detrimental and may enable a UC claim.

before you take a break in your studies please please check whether or not you’ll still be treated as a student.

Also are you sure that £375 is a month and not a week? That a week more like it tbh.

I see someone has already given details for Shelter, the homelessness charity.

Also you do not have to go to your local authority, you can go to a neighbouring one.

Are you working as well?

You need someone to do you a full benefits calculation for the different scenarios (FT/PT studies or intermitting). Someone at the student Union will do it.

That’s such a good point. I need to check if I would still be considered a student for a period of time even if I intermit. Maybe there is a time window in which I would still be a student for UC purposes which would make intermitting now not worth it.

and yes, apologies, they said it is £375/week, I didn’t realise I wrote “month”.

Yes intermitting or suspending studies use to still be a student for benefit purposes. However this may have changed.

Can you get an occupation order for your family home and a non molestation order against your DH? Or don’t you feel that would be safe?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c832740f0b62aff6c2317/hbgm-c2-student-claims.pdf

see the part about intercalculating

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students

This is what I wanted to do first. I have qualified for legal aid and have a solicitor. But the paralegal explained that my H will most likely contest the order and it can take several weeks. As such my children and I would have nowhere safe to go during those weeks and no doubt H will be be angry. I also think about my children. I am supposed to keep them with me and not let H have access until he goes thru the courts for an arrangements order. I need to be somewhere safe with them during that time.

But OP has children, (and also special circumstances.)

Students with children are generally exempt from the blanket ban on students claiming benefits. OFC she might not qualify on income or other grounds.

Thank you so much. I never would have known where to look for that info. So it does look like I could intermit and then claim HB at least until the start of the next academic year according to that.

Yes - it looks like there is some scope for single parent students obtaining benefits and this is what I am going to ask about when I speak to Citizens Advice.

@LiterallyOnFire she is eligible to claim as a student as she has children. My advice about intercalating student is about whether they treat her as still a student and take into account income if she suspended studies

Honestly this is really technical benefit stuff. I’d ask your student services for advice.

I think you should continue , have 30% of doctoral loan taken into account as income and claim HB for temp accommodation.

I had no idea someone at the student union could do that. Thank you. I will reach out to them for help as well.

I have been working (registered as self employed with HMRC and only earn about £7-10k net). I can stop working if I need to.

Do you have a guaranteed job ready for you at the end of your PhD ? If not refocus on safety

I had no idea someone at the student union could do that. Thank you. I will reach out to them for help as well.

They should have someone who specialises in welfare benefits and similar issues. Ask who does that.

I have been working (registered as self employed with HMRC and only earn about £7-10k net). I can stop working if I need to.

With children, stopping work and prioritising study, should (could?) put you at an income level where you qualify for UC to include refuge rent.

Presumably your solicitor knows what they are talking about. However, I thought if there is a risk of harm to you or your DC that both a non molestation order and occupation order could be done urgently and ex parte (without notification of your DH). Perhaps the ever helpful @prh47bridge could answer that?

https://www.forbessolicitors.co.uk/personal/family-divorce/non-molestation-occupation-order.htm#:~:text=Getting%20a%20non%2Dmolestation%20or,ex%2Dparte'%20without%20notice.

I have been contacted about a position by a former line manager and told I would be a “shoo in” for an upcoming position when I finish. I realise that is not the same as a guaranteed job offer but it would be a loss to miss that opportunity. In addition to that there is high demand in my field at the moment. If I do defer my studies and am delayed by another six months to a year …. I am guessing demand will still be high and I will probably still be able to find work. It’s one of the few things I feel I have going for me right now in this horrible situation. Probably part of the reason I am clinging to it with both hands.

Thank you. Yes all of this has been a huge learning curve. My IDVA had me call DV Assist (solicitors) bc they can be very quick and I qualified for legal aid due to having little access to funds. The way they explained it, in order for it to be granted very quickly and guaranteed, there has to be an imminent threat of harm, and it came across as a fairly strict threshold. So the fact that my H threatened murder suicide of the family and threw scissors at me over a year ago or punched thru a plastic storage bin next to my head a few months ago was not recent enough to qualify for the risk of imminent harm needed. My H also threw cutlery over the head of my daughter and that was only days ago which is what prompted all of my urgency to get us all out. However, the solicitors said that bc it was H’s word against my daughter’s word and I wasn’t in the room when the incident happened AND my H said she was not standing near him (but she says he threw the cutlery over her head) it wasn’t a solid enough incident to qualify for the proof of imminent harm. So I could still try to get a non mol and occupation order but the process would most likely be contested and would take weeks.

Yes, it is possible to get occupation and non-molestation orders ex parte, which means it would be dealt with urgently without your husband's knowledge. The issue, as your paralegal says, is whether you have enough evidence to justify that. To get orders this way, you need to persuade the court that notifying your husband could lead to more DV. If the paralegal you are dealing with has all the facts, they are in a better position to judge your chances than anyone on here. Note that, even if you did get orders ex parte, they would only be temporary until there is a hearing that your husband can attend.