Student on universal credit.

[MummytoCSJH]

My partner and I split up a month ago and he moved out, due to this I have made a claim for universal credit. I am a student and now a lone parent, I receive the student finance maintenence loan. I have had a huge debacle with them already for taking into account the special support grant which shouldn't be considered and saying they are leaving me with nothing, but a few phone calls mean they are now taking into account only a certain amount. This is fine. They are however splitting that amount between 8 months and not 12, leaving me with 8 months where they pay just under £200 and 4 months (summer holidays starting this month) where they will pay me a little over £900. However, they are stating I should be looking for part time temporary employment during this 4 months as my son has turned 5 (literally today 16/05). My student finance covers me for the entire year but all they keep saying is that the guidance states they have to divide it by 8 months, the time of a normal university year, and then in the holidays in order to receive the money I have to be attending work focused meetings and applying for jobs and going to interviews. I'm 100% convinced this is not correct as I receive a maintenence loan but it is them who are choosing to ignore it for part of the year and leaving me with less each month when my lectures are actually taking place. I could get over that as it works out only around £400 worse off each year if they make 4 big payments and 8 small ones, but how on earth am I supposed to apply for a job, get a job when they know I'll be leaving in 3 months, get and afford childcare (especially if it was a min wage job if temp) and recalculate my entitlement multiple times in 4 months, and why when I am a full time student?! I have a feeling its to do with the 'standard element'- can I refuse this and just get the housing and child element (in place of housing benefit and child tax credits I was previously entitled to). They have a letter which I also sent to council tax from university confirming I am still considered a student for benefits purposes already. Can anyone please help me find any official document that states this isn't correct as I know I've seen one but now I can't find it anywhere, or offer any further guidance?

They divide the loan between the number of months it's meant to cover so 8 sounds about right. they disregard the first £110 a month I think . The way UC works is that all your elements are added together then income ( including student loan income) reduces your total Uc amount. I don't see how not claiming the standard element would help things and don't even think it's possible as you are awarded all the elements you are entitled to.

Also you can get up to 85% of childcare costs reimbursed on UC, although childcare is paid as just another element and then any wages / income would reduce the award. There are some grants etc available to students that are disregarded. Speak to your student welfare department for the best advice.

You may be able to get summer camp work with one of the big summer camp childcare providers, who may be able to offer your child a place. I know SuperCamps have done similar in the past. It will only be 6-8 weeks work, but it might help out a little. They also offer work Easter and Christmas.

the Uc amount you get adjusts itself depending what income you have over each assessment period, it is a top up benefit. Student loan is classed as income over the academic year.

I know how universal credit works in regards to assessment periods, but my loan is definitely supposed to cover 12 months as I am a continuing student (until 2022!). I get paid quarterly, Sept, Jan and April, if it wasn't meant to cover the summer holidays then there would be no point in an April payment.
I get all grants I am entitled to and they have now disregarded these as I mentioned earlier, so the amount is correct, it just makes no sense for them to do this. I am claiming in lieu of housing benefit and child tax credit as opposed to income support (or jobseekers now my son is 5), but they don't seem to care and awarded it to me anyway. I'd rather they divided my money by 8 months and took that away so I get less each month or even by 12 as long as I'm not expected to jump through hoops all summer! I did plenty of research in regards to what I would be entitled before applying to uni not knowing if I could afford it, but then my partner moved in and I came off these benefits and now it has moved to universal credit which has a completely ridiculous was of doing things.
I'm also fully aware of the childcare costs reimbursement as I have worked full time in the past, but to be honest for a minimum wage job this still doesn't really leave me much better off working as my universal credit would go down for what I do earn, not to mention it would be a part time job if I could find one and this still wouldn't be enough for them.
Unfortunately I doubt that sort of thing would be enough as they are expecting this for 4 months, plus I highly doubt I would get hired due to my lack of experience and inflexibility. I also have things planned over the summer now. No other student is expected to look for a job over summer, and they would not receive universal credit or jobseekers as their maintenence loan covers them, however I am just because I have a little boy? I wouldn't have been expected to do this if I were on the old benefits either. I advised them during my claim that although I am disabled I didn't want to claim anything for it as they said I didn't have to look for work anyway as my student loan is the same every month and therefore my income for universal credit purposes doesn't fluctuate. I may have to go to my doctor, consultant and neurosurgeon and get a sick note after all 😠 I decided to go to university after my brain surgery last year as I thought it would be easier than putting it off and going back to my old full time job whilst I recover. All this stress makes me think no wonder people just sit on their arses all day. I still have university work to do over the summer, including resits if necessary and reading and some preliminary assignments for next year.

The loan isn't designed to cover the whole year, just the academic terms. Students are expected to work over the summer. of course other students work - my son is a student and has finished early for the year and is now working as he has no money ! If you are disabled then yes claim what you can and then you will be exempt from work searching over the summer.

If you hand in sick notes over the summer you will have no work commitments on UC.

He has no money? Odd. Where has his (larger than 2 previous) payment gone? You know, the one paid at the end of the academic year specifically to cover the summer holidays? Unless it's his final year and he has finished entirely. I am being punished for trying to better myself, and this is a massive disadvantage as opposed to the old system. No wonder people are up in arms about it. I don't want to claim job seekers allowance, or any amount for not working, I want to claim the equivalent of housing benefit and child tax credits, neither of which I can now do without looking for a job which is entirely pointless anyway. I think I will claim September to April next year and put a little aside to cover each of the summer months and cancel my claim in May (rinse and repeat).
Do I need to have one of those silly drawn out disability assessments run by unqualified do workers in regards to me being able to work or just need a sick note from my doctor?

This is how they do it for UC, yes. Tax credits wouldn't have expected you to seek summer work but UC do. It's one of the big changes. It's a PITA and makes being a student parent more stressful than it needs to be, but it is how it works from what I've seen. Further, UC also not only makes student parents jump through more hoops it also tends to make you worse off.

You have to remember it is a benefit set out to make poor people's lives harder because of the political agenda. It's not meant to make you comfortable. It's certainly not meant to aid your social mobility.

I fell pregnant at 15 and had my son smack bang the weekend between my 2 weeks of GCSEs. I went to college and worked full time for 6 months whilst dealing with trigeminal neuralgia, vision, hearing and mobility loss from a brain tumour. I had brain surgery last year and I've tried so hard at uni this year because i want a better life for my son. Not this life. I have tried so hard to make a better life for us and not depend on benefits and everything is just against me al the time. My partner just abandoned us out of the blue. All of this is just too much for me I'll be sanctioned if I don't do enough hours job searching or applications or interviewing and grilled if I don't get a job I interview for, if I work part time it won't be enough and ill still have to look for further work, if I work full time ill barely be better off and ill miss out on so much time with my son and ill have to leave and do it all again for the next 3 summers. I'll lose my house, I won't be able to feed us or pay my bills. I know this is a money matters thread so sorry for the out pour but I've been crying for hours and I feel so sick. I'm suicidal over this. I just want my son to have better, he doesn't deserve this kind of life where I can't provide for him properly, but if I don't do my degree ill never be able to. If i do my degree then the next 3 year's are going to be like this. I've had enough years of fighting a system that thinks all single teen parents are worthless and I'm sick of it all

Just so they dont have to pay me an extra £440.06 per year. What a fucking joke.

Yes it is sickening. But honestly you need to try and make this not seem personal, because it is political not personal and because it will destroy you otherwise. You are doing the right thing, but they are not going to make it easy for you.

You are not alone though. There are lots of people struggling. Nobody deserves to be poor or sanctioned, and it can feel especially unfair when you are trying to improve your situation. Good luck

Thank you x

I always thought the student maintenance loan was for the full calendar year not the academic one which is why you always get less for the third year. Simply because you graduate around the beginning of July so the amount is reduced for the final year.

The idea that you get a PT job in the summer can’t be correct, as HC students are on placement all summer.

I've got a letter from student finance confirming it covers the entire year but universal credit just don't care. They've said it only covers the time I'm actually going in to uni- not all courses end at the same time each year, I know the second years on my course don't finish until the end of June. I may well go in during the summer, I don't know yet whether I'll have resits, I still have reading and some coursework to do which carries over to next year. Apparently though I'm not actually studying. I'm a full time student for the entire 4 years in council tax terms, why is it any different for universal credit? They've told me part time wouldn't even be enough, if I got a part time job is be expected to still go to interviews alongside thst to see how I can 'get a better job'. Well, I'm doing a degree to help me get a better job.

There's a whole load of difference between wanting to find a part time job over summer fo cash to have fun with your friends like most students, than there is to being forced to look and apply for any and all available jobs for over 35 hours a week, go to meetings every week to explain why you're not doing everything they expect and possibly being sanctioned, going to interviews, struggle with childcare when you're already a student. I don't want to claim jobseekers allowance, I just want my housing benefit and child tax credits. It is so unfair.

I think I am going to get as many documents from university and from student finance as possible confirming my money covers me over 12 months, take it to mandatory reconsideration (which I know they will deny) but then it goes to an independent tribunal. My previous job was as a legal assistant and I know a few solicitors so I could get legal advice from them. I'm sure many student parents won't challenge it but as you saw in my previous post I won't stop fighting, so they've picked the wrong person!

In regards to placement - my third year is a placement and it's not just in the academic year, it's the entire year working in the industry. You are right.

student grants and loans are always just for the academic year excl summer. the April payment is to cover April-June (just like Oct covers Oct-Dec and Jan covers Jan-Mar) and then you are supposed to take a summer job to cover July August and September. this has been the case for decades long before UC etc.

the idea above to get a job as staff for a holiday childcare scheme that also can give your child a free place sounds excellent.

It covers the full educational year, thats about 38 weeks, not 52 weeks.

You have to look for work the rest of the year, sorry but its always worked like that even before Universal Credit came into force.

It doesn't cover the summer. Hiw do I know? Because my dental student daughter gets more loan because they only have a six week break in summer. I'd just go through the motions of finding work in the summer, dont worry about it now.