Post 16 universal credit

[Kellys77]

Hi,
my son is 16 and has been home educated since last year. He is continuing with this till he is 18.
We claim abit of universal credit. I know they send a link sometime soon to ask if he’ll be staying in education. Will home Ed be on there. I’m worried it will be asking for courses and start dates etc and I won’t be able to fill it in properly. If anyone has any experience in this any advice would be appreciated
Thank you

You'll need to inform Child Benefit as well. CB are the ones who ask all the details about the education to ensure it qualifies, and then UC check with Child Benefit. CB will ask questions such as when your child first began home education. As you probably know, your son does qualify since he started HE as a child, whereas if he had finished Y11 at school and then started home ed he wouldn't qualify. The online version is easier to complete as the paper form uses different phrases and it isn't so clear how to answer them in the case of a home educated young person.

Key points are that the education must be non-advanced ( not university level as there is a different funding mechanism for that) and include at least 12 hours of supervised learning per week. He doesn't have to be on track to sit a specific exam at a certain age. You can say "working towards" GCSE or Functional Skills or A levels or whatever in order to indicate that the education is non-advanced. It doesn't have to be formal study either - my kids were unschooled and I just listed the main subjects they were currently interested in and learning about through daily life.

Feel free to come back here or post on a home ed Facebook group if you aren't sure how to answer any of the questions.

Thank you I have already informed child benefit. It is universal credit I’m concerned about. I have read they don’t always understand and can cancel your claim. I know they send a link on your journal sometime in august asking what the child’s plans in education are and I was wondering if home education was on there. I’m worried it won’t be. Or it will ask for courses. I have also read people say they ask for proof of home education and they couldn’t give any as its the parent educating the child not a course
thank you

Can I just add I rang child benefit in June and told them I was carrying on with home Ed. And my son had been home Ed since the October before. They didn’t really ask many questions regarding what he was doing. but I can see on my government gateway that’s it’s been updated. I did say to the man that expected to answer more being home education and he said no it’s fine I’ve updated it
it’s the UC part I’m worried about now
Thank you

I don’t think Universal Credit involve themselves with the details. They rely on Child Benefit to do that. If CB are satisfied that the education qualifies as full-time non-advanced education, UC will go along with that decision.

Actually UC want to know more than CB they don't have a section for home Ed and expect an address for school/college and dates.

Currently trying to sort this issue for myself

I follow a group called HEFA - home education for all on Facebook.
My son is still working towards GCSEs so I am advised to click GCSEs.
Where it’s asking for an address I’ve been advised to put
Home education then my address.
Start date would be when you started home education.
Hope this helps

Kelly

Thank you, what would the end date be?

It can be anytime up until the august after their 19th Birthday for UC

hi, our child has just turned 18 and we have also had the message from UC asking what she is doing, where and when , she is autistic and isn't actually taking any formal exams , she is slowly doing her own studying in what shines good at and interested in but we have had to fill the form out in a very misleading way because it does not ask anywhere about Home Ed. Very frustrating. So we've basically said she is still in full time education, studying for GCSE's and gave a start and end date of now to this time next year, we stated a venue as our home address. I am worried that UC will want money back if we're doing this wrong , have you found out anything since your message?

hi, our child has just turned 18 and we have also had the message from UC asking what she is doing, where and when , she is autistic and isn't actually taking any formal exams , she is slowly doing her own studying in what shines good at and interested in but we have had to fill the form out in a very misleading way because it does not ask anywhere about Home Ed. Very frustrating. So we've basically said she is still in full time education, studying for GCSE's and gave a start and end date of now to this time next year, we stated a venue as our home address. I am worried that UC will want money back if we're doing this wrong.

• From the gov website : home education - if it started either before your child turned 16 or after 16 if they have special educational needs and disabilities

My son was home ed aged 7 to 16 and then went to college last Sept. He’s now 17 but not doing well so we are going to pull him out and let him study from home. I’m unsure if the rules will allow him to go back to home ed as he was home ed prior to 16 for UC purposes?

Apparently the sen only counts if they have an ehcp? My son has asd/adhd but as he hasn’t got an ehcp, it doesn’t count towards the post 16 home ed option with UC? :-(

Sorry to jump on
Does anyone know the date I report change for uc my daughter is enrolled on her course do I put that date or the date her course starts? She is 16
Thanks

I don't know the answer to that but I think you will get more responses on a different board, The Home Ed board gets less traffic than many Mumsnet boards.