benifits when one partner is in full time education

[feelathome]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I hope someone can help me.

Both me and DH are in full time work, but in Sept 2011 he hopes to go into full time education, to do a PGCE to become a teacher.

Our income will obviously drop a lot, so will we be entitled to tax credits etc, or do both partners need to be working for this? I tried the "Entitled to" website, but it doesn't give advice on people in full time education.
We have 2 children, and they will both need childcare, 1 full time and one before and after school

great, thanks brandy i was really worried that cos he was not working we would not be entitled to anything. thats a great weight off my mind.

is there anyone else with any experiences to share?

I work and Dh is a student, we get Child tax credit only and no help with childcare.

Is this because you earn above a certian amount, Wilts?
Our income will halve to about 12500 when he is a student.

My Dh gave up work to start a PGCE and we didn't get anything except a 25% reduction on our council tax. This was because the benefits are worked out on earnings in tax years and DH was only a student from Sept-June. So his salary from April to Aug counted for that tax year and meant we weren't entitled to anything. Then he was earning from July to following April. Hope that makes sense!

We did get the full means tested maintenance and student loans though and a dependent's grant. All to be paid back though and for the latter you have to jump through lots of hoops later to prove actual earnings, as they work it out on predicted.

HTH

Yes I assume so.

It sounds like you would get working tax and childcare on your wages, is the cut off for working tax about 14500?

I would definitely ring the tax credits to try and get a rough idea of what you may get. My Dh's student loan/bursary are not counted as income for tax credit purposes.

Should add that our only income during the PGCE period was my part-time salary and DH's bursary of £1,000 a month which is why we got the dependents grant.

Hi Feelathome. It is all means tested. I am in full-time ed but DP earns a good wage (which we dont share unfortunately our money is seperate) But if your below the threshold you will get ALG (adults learner grant equivalent of EMA for adults) which is up to £30 a week. You should be entitled to tax credits as well. And depending on your housing circumstances, you may get housing benefit or if you own your home, mortgage repayment benefit (dont know a lot about that one though so need to research)

Currently my partner and I are both an university but I've just discovered I'm pregnant. I'm due in September so I will have to take the year out of uni but my partner will stay at uni, does anyone know what we will be entitled to? all we will have is his student loan!!! ahhhhh

So you can get housing benefit even when there is a student in the house? We were told otherwise!

Studnet in the house not very clear - I mean when one partner is a student.

Iskra I believe so. It is means tested. It is simply calculated on the earnings of the household.

Should make no difference whether you are a student or a full-time housewife/mother.

In fact I am sure that being a student is factored in to their calculations (was when I was claiming a couple of years ago).

My best advice is to just get the forms, fill it in and see what happens if your already dead certain on going back to full-time ed.

Or, go to Citizens advice. Their computer system is pretty acurate on what benefits you can get and will check virtually all of them for you. :)