jobseekers allowance?

[jollymollie]

I wonder if anyone can help. I am married and a sahm at the moment. dh is self employed and we have an annual household income of less than £16000. I really wanted to start an access to higher education course in september but have just spoken to the advice line and because i get working tax credits and not job seekers allowance I have to pay about £600 towards the course which i can't afford. Would i be eligible to claim jsa and have this taken off my tax credits so i would be able to go to college? i have worked a lot in the past and paid a fair amount of ni contributions. If not i'll have to give up on my dreams of study

Was the advice line connected with the college? If not, you may find somewhere like the student union could help you. I'm sure, for example, that you'd be entitled to take out a student loan to cover your £600 fee. There may be other grants available for mature students on low incomes.

How long have you been a SAHM? If you dont have two recent full years of NI contributions you wont be able to claim JSA. Added to that, it doesnt actually sound like you will be job seeking and you would need to be.

The other factor may be that lots of benefits linked to JSA mean it has to be income based not contributions based and you cant get that as you have a household income.

I'd look at your outgoings again, if you are getting £16k s/e income (which means its highly likely to be much higher due to the things you can deduct) plus WTC, CTC and CB then you may be able to budget for the fees.

Are you under 25?