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step parents and student finance

Somebody recently told me that my stepfather will count as part of my household when I fill out my student finance form, is this true? If it is true why is it the case? He has no financial responsibility for me therefore it is grossly unfair for my student finance to be assessed on the basses on his income. Do student finance really expect someone to make up the shortfall in my loan who has No obligation to do so?

N.B- my mother and stepfather will have only been married a year when I start university and of been together two years- I have never been a dependent on him
(edited 9 years ago)

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Hi there.

If your mother is currently married then we do need to take into consideration both parties involved in the marriage so your step-fathers income will be included in the assessment.

Thanks.
Original post by Mark Lee - SFE Official Adviser
Hi there.

If your mother is currently married then we do need to take into consideration both parties involved in the marriage so your step-fathers income will be included in the assessment.

Thanks.



Okay. Out of interest why is that the case? It's not like the income is used to support me or will be available to make up the short fall of the loan.
Hello,

We just implement the rules and regulations provided to us by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) so I have no information regarding the reasoning behind these regulations. For further information regarding this, you would need to contact BIS.

Thanks
Reply 4
Hi, I am in a similar situation however my mum is not married to her partner. Would this mean that only her income is assessed?

Thanks
Hi

The household income includes the parent and their partner if they live together as both incomes contribute to the household.

Thanks
Reply 6
I am a potential step-parent but my partner and I have separate homes and intend to remain in separate homes when we marry. Will my income still be included to calculate my step-daughters grant?
Hi

If you do not live in the same household we will not require information of your income. Your partner may be asked to provide evidence they are living as a single person, we would write to them to request this if required.

Thanks
Reply 8
I am in the same situation. My husband has no financial responsibility for my children. We do not share finances, and have a prenuptial agreement stating that we are completely financially independent and our property is in separate names. His income should not be taken into account as household income as it does not come into our household, it is used to pay maintenance to his ex wife and support the children of his marriage, not mine. It is plainly wrong that his income is considered. Who can I take this up with? A change in the law is required urgently, this must affect thousands of remarried people with older kids.
Original post by cat54
I am in the same situation. My husband has no financial responsibility for my children. We do not share finances, and have a prenuptial agreement stating that we are completely financially independent and our property is in separate names. His income should not be taken into account as household income as it does not come into our household, it is used to pay maintenance to his ex wife and support the children of his marriage, not mine. It is plainly wrong that his income is considered. Who can I take this up with? A change in the law is required urgently, this must affect thousands of remarried people with older kids.


Hello Cat,

You can raise this with the Appeals Team.- https://media.slc.co.uk/sfe/nysf/sfe_appeals_leaflet_d.pdf

Thanks, Lynsey.
Reply 10
I live between two households, is there a requirement to which household I apply from? Regards
Original post by Aitch-j
I live between two households, is there a requirement to which household I apply from? Regards

Hi, you should choose the parent you most live with.
Thanks, Isaac
Was there any conclusion to this? Same position here. Husbands children (whom he quite rightly supports financially) are entitled to MORE support than my child as we are classed as a combined income. They are classed as single income (but want for nothing). Yet he does not financially support me or my child. So technically my child has less financial support from home (my wage only and no maintenance from bio dad). It’s like he’s been punished twice. Once from CSA who have written off all unpaid maintenance debt never paid by bio dad and again at 17/18 as it’s assumed step dad is financially responsible for him. I don’t want ‘more’ I just want him to be assessed as per his circumstances which is that he has , and always has had, just one income to support him. In 2021 this is really not acceptable that young people are being penalised like this.
Original post by BluSkye26
Was there any conclusion to this? Same position here. Husbands children (whom he quite rightly supports financially) are entitled to MORE support than my child as we are classed as a combined income. They are classed as single income (but want for nothing). Yet he does not financially support me or my child. So technically my child has less financial support from home (my wage only and no maintenance from bio dad). It’s like he’s been punished twice. Once from CSA who have written off all unpaid maintenance debt never paid by bio dad and again at 17/18 as it’s assumed step dad is financially responsible for him. I don’t want ‘more’ I just want him to be assessed as per his circumstances which is that he has , and always has had, just one income to support him. In 2021 this is really not acceptable that young people are being penalised like this.

Hi, what do you mean your husbands children are entitled to more? Please clarify further because if they are students then they will be assessed using their dads income and your income, the same way your child is assessed.
Thanks, Isaac
My point is It’s assumed that my husband and I are a joint income (though he has no financial responsibility towards my children and does NOT support me/them financially). There’s no joint about it. I may be married but essentially it’s MY income that my children and I live off. So ONE income. The other household is a single person so it is assumed that they have less income coming into the house hold. It’s not. It is equivalent to mine. But in addition , husband is providing laptops, clothing, allowances etc etc (which I have no issue with as it’s his responsibility to do so). But what that actually means in reality is that the students n the single household are able to access a higher value maintenance loan (more) than the students in the so called joint household ....even though those students only have mums single income for things like laptops, travel costs, food, living expenses. No one is claiming anything they shouldn’t. All info is correct (technically). But the system incorrectly assumes that a step parent shares financial responsibility for step children. This assumption is often incorrect. Financially penalising those students.The fact that this even needs to be explained to this degree shows that the system does not recognise those students individual circumstances.
Original post by BluSkye26
My point is It’s assumed that my husband and I are a joint income (though he has no financial responsibility towards my children and does NOT support me/them financially). There’s no joint about it. I may be married but essentially it’s MY income that my children and I live off. So ONE income. The other household is a single person so it is assumed that they have less income coming into the house hold. It’s not. It is equivalent to mine. But in addition , husband is providing laptops, clothing, allowances etc etc (which I have no issue with as it’s his responsibility to do so). But what that actually means in reality is that the students n the single household are able to access a higher value maintenance loan (more) than the students in the so called joint household ....even though those students only have mums single income for things like laptops, travel costs, food, living expenses. No one is claiming anything they shouldn’t. All info is correct (technically). But the system incorrectly assumes that a step parent shares financial responsibility for step children. This assumption is often incorrect. Financially penalising those students.The fact that this even needs to be explained to this degree shows that the system does not recognise those students individual circumstances.

Your child and his child will be assessed using the exact same household income amount.
Thanks, Isaac
No they will not as they live with THEIR mum.please See my reply above.
Original post by BluSkye26
No they will not as they live with THEIR mum.please See my reply above.

Ah sorry, if there mother is single then they can choose to be assessed using only their mums income so then yes you are correct in saying they could be receiving more funding/in a better situation than your child due to them only being assessed on their mums income.

There is no way around this unfortunately as both sets of students have different parents and different parents supporting their applications.
Thanks, Isaac
Ok. So in instances such as this , and it is relatively common as you can see from the posts in the thread, should I just declare MY income then as it’s only MY income that my child is supported by? And should my husband and his ex partner use BOTH of their incomes as it’s BOTH of their incomes that financially support his child? My son is financially supported by ONE income. My husbands child is financially supported by TWO incomes yet their maintenance loan is assessed as though they only have ONE and my child’s is assessed as though it’s a TWO person household income. But it’s not it’s the other way round. It is an example of inequality in the system as students in my child’s position are financially penalised due to an unfair assumption. My husbands earnings do NOT come into our household. It goes into his ex partners, yet isht counted as such. It’s not a fair or level playing field really.
Original post by BluSkye26
Ok. So in instances such as this , and it is relatively common as you can see from the posts in the thread, should I just declare MY income then as it’s only MY income that my child is supported by? And should my husband and his ex partner use BOTH of their incomes as it’s BOTH of their incomes that financially support his child? My son is financially supported by ONE income. My husbands child is financially supported by TWO incomes yet their maintenance loan is assessed as though they only have ONE and my child’s is assessed as though it’s a TWO person household income. But it’s not it’s the other way round. It is an example of inequality in the system as students in my child’s position are financially penalised due to an unfair assumption. My husbands earnings do NOT come into our household. It goes into his ex partners, yet isht counted as such. It’s not a fair or level playing field really.

No, as you are married. We require the student to provide your income and their step dads income.

For your husbands children. If they are choosing to be supported by their mum then your husband does not need to support their application. Only their mum if she is single.
Thanks, Isaac

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