Student parent and housing benefit

Hi guys I'm just trying to find out of anyone knows how housing benefit is worked out for single student parents and if anyone here is still entitled to full housing benefit whilst at uni,

Reply 1

loislane1987

im in the same boat, i was told to contact my local authority. ill be phoning them tomorrow to see whats what. i do know that as a single parent your entitled to it, but how much, im not sure

i did come across this if you want to have a look, it basically tells you whats regarded as income from student finance etc
:smile:

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/information-and-services/money-tax-and-benefits/benefits-and-financial-support/on-a-low-income-1/which-types-of-student-finance-are-counted-as-income-when-working-out-benefits.htm

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2

Tiger Rag

Some of your student loan will be ignored for things like books and travel. The special support grant is ignored in full, as are tuition fees.

Your maintenance loan will be counted as money you have regardless of whether you have it or not - because it's money you're entitled to.

Reply 3

Manda80

Hi. I am a single parent at Uni. As long as your rent falls within what you are entitled then you get full rent paid.

Reply 4

peekandboo

great just what i needed to know

Reply 5

Tiger Rag

If you're entitled to any income support, you're entitled to full housng benefit for your situation. And you're exempt from council tax due to being a full time student.

Reply 6

shaunlewis

I'm not a lone parent, but for the first 2 years of my degree, I have been a student parent with an adult dependent (income zero), and from this year, 2 student parents.

I wanted to point out that Housing Benefit calculates your student income, to me, a slightly strange way. Basically, despite the arguments from the Student Loans Company that your installment paid in the last term is designed to cover you over the summer vacation, HB takes the view that your student income is for term time only.

Accordingly, the divide your student income over a smaller number of weeks. In my case, it was 42. As a result, your income during term time is considered to be much higher than you might expect, but during the summer will be effectively zero.

My point is that, even if you are told you are not entitled to HB during term time, or only a small amount, you should apply for, and expect to receive it, during the summer vacation (conditional on your earnings and other sources of income, of course).

Reply 7

Tiger Rag

Over the summer, you are entitled to IS / JSA / ESA depending on your situation.

Reply 8

Redflowers

Hey thanks for replying how did u get on with your local council

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Reply 9

MollyApple

Original post by loislane1987

That's for Northern Ireland only so won't apply if OP is in UK, NI are so much more lenient!

I've been told I am entitled to LHA as a lone student parent but haven't had that chat yet with the council as I'm still trying to work out where we'll be living come October.

With regards to rent, my understanding is that, as for anyone else entitled to HB/LHA you can rent a property of whatever size / rent but you only get a capped rent amount from the council according to your bedroom allowance and you have to make up the shortfall in rent out of your income. Certainly applies in my case because I've seen no properties on the market where I'm looking under the LHA amount since I started househunting in July.

Income that counts is Maintenance Loan, Child Tax Credit (&WTC if applicable), any interest assumed on savings over £6,000 and income from working. two useful websites: http://www.entitledto.co.uk/ and http://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Search.aspx

I hadn't heard about the 42 week thing, is it the same for all councils? Because it falls under CTC's annual assessment, I assumed it was spread over the year. That's a real worry as rent prices around my uni for 2 bed are £75-£175pcm above the max LHA and I don't qualify for the full amount either. If they calculate over 42 weeks I won't be able to afford to rent at all. Does the DHP scheme cover this in our case or will they expect us to stop faffing around in education and get a real job?

Reply 10

MollyApple

Leicester's website sheds some light on the assessment of maintenance loans, thank you to them! http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/welfare/finance/state-benefits-and-council-tax/benefits/how-income-is-calculated-for-benefit-assessments

Reply 11

loislane1987

Ah yes sorry didnt realise that was ireland. Looks like everywhere is different. Mine are waiting to hear from income support before they can say if i qualify for HB or not

Reply 12

shaunlewis

MollyApple,

It appears The Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, Regulation 64 is the source of the instruction to appropriation your student income taken into account over the length of the accedmic year " excluding any benefit weeks falling entirely within the quarter during which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the longest of any vacation is taken", so it should be common to all councils.

It will vary according to the length of the academic year at your university, however, and maybe treated as 43 or 44 weeks, which will serve to lower the weekly income figure a little.

Reply 13

MollyApple

Original post by shaunlewis

Thank you for that insight. I did a lot of googling last night and from what I ascertain, if you start September they treat July & August as holiday quarter and that I'd the number of weeks to deduct to arrive at academic weeks, 43 for 2015. An Oct start would make Aug + Sep holiday qtr.

But more importantly I learned about the disregards, nearly £693 for study costs + £10pw so once I'd deducted that, spread the rest of 43 weeks, it didn't look nearly so heart stopping as when I split the whole loan amt! I'll be done between £15 and £36 pcm depending on how many weeks are in the academic yr which is okay.