full time student and income support

[ageunineenquiry]

i am a regular who has name changed and its not me im asking about its someone i know!

My mate has just chucked her deadbeat boyfriend out as he has been unemlployed and not making any effort to find work for 7 months now. she is now left as a single parent to her 12 and 7 year old. She is currently in her 2nd year of a degree at the local college and is classed will be classed as a full time student in september. She has just been told she is losing her job (15 hours a week) in 4 weeks time and is now worried about money etc. she does not get any grants but does have a loan from the bank which is given every 3 months of 6k a year.

If she does not say she is a full time student she will be eligible for income support.
would it be wrong for her to not declare the fact she is studying?
if she decalres her student status she wont be entitled to IS and will have to survive on 90 a week CTC which she will not be able to do.

i dont know what to advise her but am worried it would be recorded somewhere her student status and that she would be in a bad place!

I don't understand, will she get £90 a week tax credit plus 2,000 every 3 months from the student loan.

It will definitely be recorded and she should be upfront, she may get more now she's losing her job. She has time to get another job too if that's possible. Also she should check out hardship funds at the college she is at.

She should be able to claim grants on top of her student loan from the LA and get help with childcare etc.

If she hasnt claimed all the students grants and loans she is eligiable to claim she will still be treated as receiving the income as its available on applicable.

She may be entitled to IS durning the summer holiday.

Being a lone parent (if child is less than 12) student doesnt exclude her from claiming IS, however it is likely that her student income will.

She may also get more CTC and Housing benefit.

Are you sure the loan from bank is not her Student Loan? Sounds like it is to me.

BTW there is cross matching with various systems and yes she will get caught, have to pay it back with a penalty or possibly jail.

ok have spoken to friend who says she gets a total of 6k a year in grants and loan and she gets 93 a week CTC but thats it, out of this she is paying 105 a week rent and 95 a month council tax and trying to feed and clothe both children and its not happening for her! Surely there is more help for her!

That doesn't sound right to me. It's not a nursing degree is it?, because there does seem to be less funding for those.

Her current funding was probably worked out including her earnings from her job, but in September they will discount that.

I would have thought she should be entitled to a special support grant plus parent's learning allowance, these are worth over £4k alone then you get the student loan on top.

Also at least partial housing benefit and council tax paid.

Yes more CTC once job ends/partner leaves. She needs to ring HMRC.

As a student she doesnt need to pay council tax now he is left.

And she should apply for housing benefits

Tell her to check out www.entitledto.com

thanks for the advice i am gonna drag her to cab tomorrow to get this sorted!

Best thing she can do is ring HMRC and Council first start getting the claims sorted. Even with her Part time earnings she may be entitled to some housing benefits.

Her grant was also prob reduced cos she had a partner?

She needs to talk to the college I think - they will have experience in this kind of thing.

There is no way with two dependents she is only entitled to the same as a single young student.