Evidence of living independently

Hi

My daughter is 21 and has been living independently since July 2018 and when she starts university next year, she will have lived away from home for 3 years while she has been doing a level 3 course at college ( just finished but she is taking a year out due to mental health problems - anxiety)

When she moved to a shared house, she applied for benefits but the benefit claim went missing and due to her having mental health problems , she did not chase this up .

She was living with friends , one of who had paid a big deposit to cover a year’s rent as that was the only way they could secure a tenancy - so my daughter lived there rent free for the year but her name was on the tenancy agreement .

My daughter got a college bursary for that year and was registerEd at the Independent address she moved to with friends in July 2018. The college bursary stopped when my daughter reached the age of 19.

Last year, they all moved to a new shared house, again with my daughter’s name on the tenancy and this has been renewed for another year to end in July 2021.

My daughter also finally sorted out her benefits which she started getting - income support - in December 2019.

Before moving out to live independently, she split her time living with me half the week and her father ( we are divorced) the other half of the week,

Can you tell me if the following evidence will be sufficient for her to be classed as an independent student starting in September 2021:

A college bursary for living independently from September 2018 to 2019.

Registered with her college at the independent addresses from September 2018 to July 2020.

Tenancy agreements with her name on them from July 2018 to July 2021

Benefits (income support) from December 2019 to July 2021 ( she is not currently well enough to work due to anxiety)

If this is not enough evidence, which parent would she put on the application for student loan seeing as she spent time each week living with both me and her father, who I am divorced from ( pre July 2018)

I am asking now so that my daughter has time to gather evidence for applying next Spring,

Please don’t cut and paste the advice from SLC as I’ve looked at it and because of the above circumstances, my daughter seems to fall outside this in terms of evidence needed.

Thanks in advance

Original post by Julie1000

Hi

My daughter is 21 and has been living independently since July 2018 and when she starts university next year, she will have lived away from home for 3 years while she has been doing a level 3 course at college ( just finished but she is taking a year out due to mental health problems - anxiety)

When she moved to a shared house, she applied for benefits but the benefit claim went missing and due to her having mental health problems , she did not chase this up .

She was living with friends , one of who had paid a big deposit to cover a year’s rent as that was the only way they could secure a tenancy - so my daughter lived there rent free for the year but her name was on the tenancy agreement .

My daughter got a college bursary for that year and was registerEd at the Independent address she moved to with friends in July 2018. The college bursary stopped when my daughter reached the age of 19.

Last year, they all moved to a new shared house, again with my daughter’s name on the tenancy and this has been renewed for another year to end in July 2021.

My daughter also finally sorted out her benefits which she started getting - income support - in December 2019.

Before moving out to live independently, she split her time living with me half the week and her father ( we are divorced) the other half of the week,

Can you tell me if the following evidence will be sufficient for her to be classed as an independent student starting in September 2021:

A college bursary for living independently from September 2018 to 2019.

Registered with her college at the independent addresses from September 2018 to July 2020.

Tenancy agreements with her name on them from July 2018 to July 2021

Benefits (income support) from December 2019 to July 2021 ( she is not currently well enough to work due to anxiety)

If this is not enough evidence, which parent would she put on the application for student loan seeing as she spent time each week living with both me and her father, who I am divorced from ( pre July 2018)

I am asking now so that my daughter has time to gather evidence for applying next Spring,

Please don’t cut and paste the advice from SLC as I’ve looked at it and because of the above circumstances, my daughter seems to fall outside this in terms of evidence needed.

Thanks in advance

Good morning Julie, I hope your having a nice weekend so far.

An applicant under the age of 25 must either meet the independent criteria listed here http://ow.ly/q5mJ30oSfa5 or provide their parents financial details. If she provides parental details then she would have to choose either you or her father to support the application, if the parent she chooses is not single then we will also need their partner/spouses details, if the parent is single/divorced then the parent can complete a PFF2 form http://ow.ly/opMD30qijXx and marital status declaration form http://ow.ly/d/8nhE - all forms/evidence can be uploaded online.
If the parents household income is under 25k then the student will receive the maximum funding.

Regarding the independent evidence, we require 3 years worth of self support evidence. If she has only been self supporting for 2.5 years then she won't meet this criteria, you can click on the link above to view the other criteria and evidence.

With your specific evidence, we don't accept the bursary as proof of being independent as this means the student was dependent on the organisation who awarded the bursary, we also won't accept a letter showing she was registered as independent at a college or tenancy agreements. We do accept the benefits evidence. The evidence must cover 3 years though so based on your post, I think it's unlikely for independent status to be awarded but you can upload the evidence and the assessors can make an official decision.

The evidence we can accept for self support:

- We can accept evidence that shows self support through income, benefits or food and accommodation provided.

-Acceptable evidence can include a P60, month 12 payslip, week 52 payslip, benefit receipt letters, statement of earnings from HMRC or their employer, employers letter, tax returns or an accountants letter

-If the student was provided with food and accommodation in place of an income this can be considered as self supporting

-For students in receipt of benefits the important factor is the claim dates and not the amounts received, we must see the period of time the student has been claiming benefits.

-For customers in receipt of Universal credit they may only have notification of proposed payments, for this we can accept a clear bank statement showing payments received. The bank statement will usually show the DWP payment reference.

-For students providing bank statements to show savings these must have been gained from previous income

We can accept overseas evidence for all circumstances covered above

Thanks, Isaac

Reply 2

Julie1000

OP

3

Hi thanks for the reply

So when my daughter puts down her address which is different to both mine and her fathers, does she get the option to put down only one parents details - the parent she has chosen ?

If she puts down both our details what happens then?

Thanks

Original post by Julie1000

Hi thanks for the reply

So when my daughter puts down her address which is different to both mine and her fathers, does she get the option to put down only one parents details - the parent she has chosen ?

If she puts down both our details what happens then?

Thanks

When she applies for funding, it asks which parent she lives with and their marital status. The address has nothing to do with this.
If she states the parents are married then it will ask for the parents email address' and then parent(s) will receive an email to support the application.
Thanks, Isaac

Reply 4

Julie1000

OP

3

Hi

She hasn’t lived with either of us for 2 years and 2 months and will not be moving back

If she puts either my address or her fathers address this would not be accurate

Thanks

Original post by Julie1000

Hi

She hasn’t lived with either of us for 2 years and 2 months and will not be moving back

If she puts either my address or her fathers address this would not be accurate

Thanks

She does not need to put her parents address, she should put her own address. We do not require the student to be living with parents if the parents are supporting the application.
Thanks, Isaac

Reply 6

Julie1000

OP

3

And if she puts her address that she is living at now , the online form asks for both mine and her fathers details - so when would she then chose which one of us to use?

Thanks

Reply 7

Julie1000

OP

3

Original post by SFE Isaac

She does not need to put her parents address, she should put her own address. We do not require the student to be living with parents if the parents are supporting the application.
Thanks, Isaac

When she tried to do this , ( she’s taking a year out) it asked for both her mother and fathers details and there was no option to chose one of us

Original post by Julie1000

And if she puts her address that she is living at now , the online form asks for both mine and her fathers details - so when would she then chose which one of us to use?

Thanks

Her application does not ask for parents address, but it does ask for their email.

Original post by Julie1000

When she tried to do this , ( she’s taking a year out) it asked for both her mother and fathers details and there was no option to chose one of us

This means she applied incorrectly by stating you are married.

If she has problems completing the online form then she can complete a paper application form https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-forms
Thanks, Isaac

Reply 9

Julie1000

OP

3

Ok thanks - so Just to check , there is an option to say we are no longer married if she puts her own address?

Original post by Julie1000

Ok thanks - so Just to check , there is an option to say we are no longer married if she puts her own address?

Her address not being the same as her parents does not affect anything.
It will only not ask for the parents details if she ticks that she is independent. If she doesn't then it will ask which parent she lives with and she can select mother, father or both.
Thanks, Isaac

Reply 11

Julie1000

OP

3

Thanks for the information, Issac

Evidence of living independently

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