Access Course & Housing Benefit problems

Cate1976

My council Housing Benefit department suspended mine & my husband's benefit claim last week for 2 reasons, the first has been sorted out but the second hasn't.

I told the council a couple of months ago that I was going back to college to do Acces Course which they said was ok. A week ago yesterday i got home from college and the letter saying benefit suspended was waiting for me, husband stressing. The letter asked for various documents, my husband took what we were able to get over the weekend into Housing Benefit on Monday. The 2 documents i wasn't able to provide were the student certificate which college said they can't give out until I've been on the course for 6 weeks and proof of my bursary. The latter I'm not entitled to as Access Course is level 3. The problem is that while I was on the phone on Tuesday, I said that the course I'm doing is Access to Higher Education. College did a letter for me clearly stating that the course is level 3 and not part of a higher education degree program, my husband took said letter to benefit office yesterday. The person he spoke to has said it has to go to a decision maker who'll decide whether to reassess the claim based on the information they have while waiting for the student certificate. This person did say to my husband that the problem could be that the words Higher Education in the course title mean it has to be treated as being Higher Education. The student certificate is for council tax, so I'm going to ring on monday to ask if they can reassess just the housing part of our claim and then do the council tax when college give me the certificate. The only finance I can get is the 24+ Advanced Learning Loan which goes straight to college (I think Housing benefit will try to treat this as income even though they shouldn't, they disregard Tuition Fee Loan for Higher Education courses or rather should according to 2.124 ). The council classing my course as being Higher Education is going to cause us lots of problems financially as we'll be hit with the notional income rules (2.231 on link below) even though I'm not getting grant/loan/bursary/scholarship or anything else. The only thing I might get is money from college via the learner Support Fund (2.360 on link) for travel costs, to get this disregarded, I'll be able to provide proof of my travel costs very easily. It does say in this document that money for travel costsshould be disregarded (2.361 - 2.365 on link below). Learner Support Funds are also covered in 2.190 -2.194, I'm only applying for help with course related costs, mainly travel.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236969/hbgm-c2-student-claims.pdf

College have said they can't do a letter saying I'm not entitled to grant/loan/bursary/scholarship. I think this maybe due to possibility of getting money from Learner Support Fund.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can advise me on how to get council to accept that Access course is Level 3 & therefore doesn't entitle me to the finance that a degree would. My husband did tell them that my access course is equivalent to A Levels/NVQ 3/BTEC National Diploma but he doesn't think the person he spoke to accepted this due to the words Higher Education being in the course title. I'd also appreciate it of someone can confirm that the 24+ loan shouldn't be classed as income.

We cannot borrow money off my family to help us out as housing benefit have told my husband that any money they lend us will be classed as capital and taken off any benefit paid £ for £. The <6K of capital/savings is only allowed if it's money we've saved out of what we get. For us it's mostly saving the child benefit to pay for clothes, shoes, Christmas & Birthday presents for our 3 children. We also use it for days out with the kids.

Reply 1

jimmy_looks_2ice

I don't have any experience with claiming govt benefits, but I do sympathise with your plight.

I worked in the civil service for nearly a decade and have friends who still work in it. In fairness, there are some exceptionally bright and capable folks in the CS, but I'm afraid it's also true that the CS is a refuge for many people who are some combination of congenitally stupid, mindboggling obtuse, anally retentive, and procedure-worshipping, and who cannot function in anything other than a McDonalds-like "computer says no" fashion. You may well have had the misfortune of dealing with such a person.

My advice is try to contain the urge to beat the person around the head with any of your Access course text books. Try to explain to the person carefully and slowly (using simple language) that there is a framework for academic qualifications in this country and that Access to HE is further **not** higher education.

Do not expect them to pick up on the subtle clue that the word "Access" in the title implies a qualification that gets you into HE but is not actually part of HE. A simple visual aid may well help matters. Perhaps you can print off a version of the National Qualifications Framework from an official source, such as this one:

https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/courses/Pages/QualificationsTable.aspx

Hopefully you can get a face-to-face meeting with them so that you can show them that, or at least an address to post/email it to. Failing that strategy yielding any joy, you should insist on speaking to a supervisor or manager, in the optimistic belief that they have a modicum of intelligence and can process this none-too-complex concept. Good luck!

Reply 2

Cate1976

Thanks for your reply, that link is interesting reading. Have bookmarked it in case housing are still awkward on Monday. I'll print it off and highlight access. I'm hoping that the letter from college will be enough. I've got a lsit of questions to ask them on Monday when I ring them.

Reply 3

username1575959

Original post by Cate1976

How did it go? I am on Access to HE too and I was told on the phone it was okay but I am afraid it might end up as your claim :frown:

Did you have to reduce your working hours to do the course? I tried not to so far but I am strugglind with assignments and thinking of reducing my working hours...

Reply 4

aishtahira

I was doing a level 3 course last year as well as claiming housing benefit, esa and council tax benefit. I was getting £80 a month for my travel expenses also. I used a 24+ loan to cover it and had no problems.
Hope you get it sorted 😊

Access Course & Housing Benefit problems

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