Benefits when younger person aged 20 and has an EHCP

[ShortStory]

Asking on behalf of my sister-in-law but this will also apply to me shortly.

Her son gets PIP-enhanced care and enhanced mobility.

He has an EHCP.

He is 20 and is in a special ed setting.

He lives with her. Education is full-time.

As he's turned 20 and he's a student (not employed) the child benefit stopped.

My interpretation from the Gov website about was that disabled students could apply for UTC and would get it if they were assessed as Lower Capacity for Work.

But Citizens Advice said the only way to access Universal Credit is to take him out of education and say he's looking for work.

She really doesn't want to do this because that would be awful for his and her well-being.

I feel a bit nervous I've given her false hope now - and also bit stressed about our own financial situation.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

This is a great website and may have the right advice. When my daughter was in this position, I was able to claim ESA for her whilst she remained in education but the system has changed now (she is 25) I do think your sister should be able to claim UC for him without him leaving education.

Brilliant - thanks - I hadn't come across that website - seen a few others but they're very muddy about the student status.

Citizens Advice is wrong. And leaving education would be the wrong thing to do. The EHCP can continue until 25, or 26 in some circumstances. DN, or SIL if appointee, can apply for UC. This information booklet from Contact is helpful. See the section starting “my child is aged 20…”. Contact have a helpline too. For this matter, Contact is far more informed than CA.

https://contact.org.uk/help-for-families/information-advice-services/benefits-financial-help/benefits-and-tax-credits/universal-credit/universal-credit-for-young-people/

Looks like CAB were right

• "Disabled students who get Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the Scottish Child Disability Payment or the Scottish Adult Disability Payment. But this is only if they have also established a limited capability for work before they started receiving education. It is no longer possible to qualify as a disabled student by establishing a limited capability for work during your course.*"

So he'd have to come out of education, have the assessment, then go back to the education setting - which wouldn't happen because it was hard enough to get the place for him.

What a system!

I've passed on the details for Contact so she can get a second opinion.

No, that’s not what contact say for 20 year olds. Read Contact’s booklet I linked to. The section beginning “My child is aged 20…”

LCWRA doesn’t have to be established prior to beginning the course from the September after the young person’s 19th birthday.

The information in your link also states:

“3. Young people who remain in full-time non-advanced education beyond the August after their 19th birthday
Someone in full-time non-advanced education who has reached the September after their 19th birthday should be able to claim Universal Credit.
This is so long as the DWP doesn’t see their course as incompatible with any work-related conditions attached to their Universal Credit claim.”

18 months ago CAB gave me the same advice they gave your SIL. They advised my DC nevertheless to apply for UC and request a Work Capability Assessment, despite knowing that the request would be turned down. Apparently one or two cases were likely to go to court in the next few years and if those people won, the UC policy would be overturned. After that, the door would be open for anyone else who had previously attempted to claim UC and been denied it unreasonably - such people would be able to appeal and should win backdated payments.

So if your SIL cannot find a viable way forward, it might still be worth jumping through the hoops in order to be formally turned down for UC, so as to lay down the paper trail for an appeal sometime in the future.

We did not end up doing this, because my DC's condition unexpectedly improved shortly afterward and they are no longer disabled.

@Saracen just so you know in case it is relevant in the future, CAB’s advice was wrong if it was about a young person from the September following their 19th birthday undertaking non-advanced education. See Contact’s information I linked to.

Thank you!

My DC was a university student who was only capable of part-time study due to disability. Part-time students are only eligible for a part maintenance loan, presumably because healthy non-disabled part-time students should be able to get a part-time job or could choose to go to uni full-time. So Student Finance only covered half their living expenses.

In such a case, apparently UC is the only recourse - but you have to have been in receipt of UC with LCWRA before starting your course. If you're already a student, you aren't eligible.

@Saracen ah, that’s a different situation. University is advanced education. In OP’s case, DN is classed as undertaking non-advanced education, so the rules are different and from the September following the young person’s 19th birthday LCWRA doesn’t need to be established prior to the beginning of the course.