Full time student and on the verge of separation

[Orangelocket]

I'm really hoping someone can shed some light for me regarding my situation so will give as much information as possible.
My DH and I are on the verge of separation after 20yrs. We have 2 DC aged 8 and 10.
I am due to start my teacher training in Sept. I will be working full time during training but it will be unpaid.
I will be in receipt of the maintenance loan (higher amount around 9k) which will cover my rent and council tax. However I'm finding really conflicting advice online regarding if I'll be entitled to tax credits (already have a joint TC claim so assume I would stay as TC?). I know I will not be entitled to income support etc which is ok.
If I can get child tax credits I may just about survive financially. If not I'll have to give up on my life long dream which will break my heart even more than the seperation will. Is anyone in a similar situation or know of somewhere I could call for sound advice? X

I'm a single parent, studying full-time and I get child tax credits. I was getting them before applying for student finance so they just carried on and student loans aren't taken into account by HMRC. My concern for you is that if your claim changes when you become single, will you be moved onto UC? If you are, then student loans will affect that and students on UC are much worse off than students on CTC, unfortunately.

You won't have to pay any Council Tax as a student if you're the only adult living in the property. Also, I get the full maintenance loan plus something called Parents Learning Allowance from SFE. It's about an extra £1500 on top of the full maintenance loan. I think it might actually be a grant rather than a loan.

Check if your university give any bursaries. Mine gives a bursary to every single student ranging from £500 to £1500 p/y depending on household income. And you'll be getting child benefit too, I assume? So that's another £900 p/y.

Hope you can stay on Tax Credits. Tough but do-able if you can. Good luck.

I think taking your husband off will trigger a change to UC, sorry. However as PP has said there is help available for students who are parents so its worth talking to your uni and seeing what help you could get.

Thanks for your replies. I contacted an organisation for advice today and they too said it would change over to UC but that I should still be entitled to some support. They're going to work out a calculation for me once I get back to them with my student finance amounts.

You cannot make a new claim for tax credits and if you already have a joint tax credits claim then you would now need to switch to Universal credit which unfortunately isn't great for students as any maintenance loan is deducted from Uc pound for pound after a certain small amount is disregarded each month. Sorry it's not better news. I assume your ex will be paying child maintenance?

Sadly my uni dont give out burserys so I'll be relying on my maintenance loan (higher amount) and parent learner grant (1500). Yes, I also get CHB. If I can get UC or TC weekly then I should have just amount to get by with depending on what they'll give me.

He will be paying maintenance yes.

Get you uni to do you a full time student letter with dates of course and take to council as you’ll get a 25% discount now and when he leave let them know his forwarding address and you’ll be exempt from paying for the dates of your course

Yep, it's UC. Sorry but I'd delay separation as long as possible to complete your course.

Do you currently rent or have a house to sell when you split? If there is equity in the house tis may also affect UC.

We rent so no worries regarding equity. I'll get to stay in the house with the kids and he will leave.

I already get the discount ivykaty44

Excellent, so if he moves out you can go straight to exemption

You may need to take him off the tenancy if possible to avoid problems with Uc only paying half, or you may need to declare it as an untidy tenancy if he can't be removed.

The tenancy can be amended easily thankfully. I have lived here a long time and the landlords are good friends of ours so hopefully that won't be something to worry about.