Anyone know if a lone parent can claim either Income Support/tax credits whilst on a full time course?

[allgonebellyup]

The course is an NHS full time professional training course, and i will be receiving (hopefully) an NHS bursary to help me.
I'm unsure though, whether i can claim either Income Support or tax credits during this time?
Have tried calling both NHS and Inland revenue but neither were sure!!

Have you tried Unison?

how much is a bursary??

Bursary is different for each applicant- the calculator suggests i would receive £7000 per year.

wow!! and you have to pay that back,or not??

no, you dont pay it back. But its not enough for us to live on; my mortgage is 900 a month! And as the course is full time, i wouldnt be working, and i have no partner.
At the moment we live off nearly 26k and even then its a struggle.

I earn about £8k a year and with two children am getting about £100/week tax credits. Don't think I am entitled to income support although tax credits person said I should claim it as the worst they can say is no (which I found quite funny).

Not sure about council tax benefit (am applying for housing benefit and council tax benefit but house is rented).

would you be enrolled at a university to do this course?

even with tax credits AND income support,it would never bring you up to what you need. which you say is 26k????

you're going to have to lower your standards!

and when it comes to these benefits,mortgage or not,makes no difference,its not taken into consideration.

housing benefit pays interest only on mortgages,buit thats wityh jobseekers allowance,not income support

you get healthy start with tax credits?? didnt know that,thought it was only income support

AFAIK the bursary isn't taken into account for tax credits but i was told i couldn't claim hb as my bursary was counted. in order to claim help for child care costs i have to work 16hrs/wk to get working tax credit and claim the child care element.

You should be able to claim child tax credits.

op....i really cant see how you will manage with a mortgage of £900 a month!!!

how are you getting the 26k at present??

bursary is £500/mth but because i get tax credits it knocks me juuuust over. so i have to pay full rent. by the time i've paid for child care etc i have £60-70/mth for bits and bobs. bit crap when something breaks or both DCs need stuff.

oh well, just till october then i'll be qualified..... hope i get a job cos if not i'll be £500/mth down before i even start

i have 2 DC. it's the extras that cost. we only get a % of travel expenses reinbursed and tbh childcare is my biggest cost because i have to pay unsociable hours when i'm on placement. depending on my placement area i have been known to leave the house at 5:30 am to travel, work shift from 7:30-20:30 and be back for 10pm so you can imagine how much that costs. although i have people who will help out where they can, some days it just doesn't work out....

Prince, i know! and it's for working at the coal face. could be worse though.....nursing bursaries are going so it's going to be even harder to do the training even if you are hugely motivated etc. the course i'm on leaves very little time to do paid work because we don't get the long holidays that other students do.

I'm doing a PGCE and get a bursary of 4K (which is being scrapped this year - nice for future trainees) and this isn't counted against Tax Credits so I get roughly £100 per week as a LP of 2 children.

AGBU - were you considering a career as an Ed Psych about 4 years ago? If so we chatted briefly then about it all What's your course now?

As has already been said ANYONE can apply for tax credits (you don't even have to be a parent...although there isn't much help if you are not).

The busary (assuming tax free) doesn't have to be declared for tax credits.

I am a full time student (teacher training) and I CAN in theory apply for income support...but because I have significant savings am not eligible.

The childcare element of the tax credits you won't be eligible for because that is part of the working tax credit element which you won't be able to claim as you are not working. Some courses are eligible for childcare support in other forms (the course I will start is eligible via finance England) but not the one I am doing at the moment.