Claiming ESA whilst studying at uni

Hi,I am due to start my undergraduate course at uni in 2 days time but I am really concerned about my financial situation. I currently receive DLA and ESA which I have just had a review for where they moved me from the work related activity group to the higher support group which was a huge weight off my mind. At my ESA interview they knew I had been at college for the past 3 years gaining GCSE grades and that I had recently completed an access course. I did not tell them I was going on to university as I had not decided if this was the right route for me even though I had applied at the time. To cut a long story short, today I received part of my student maintenance loan but I have not informed the DWP so next week I will still receive my usual amount of ESA. Can I still receive ESA as a disabled student and do I need to inform them? As I said I have only just had a review for ESA and I am worried that now I might have to have another review and they will use me going to uni against me. Also are the DWP automatically informed by the uni or student finance about a student attending uni? Any answers would be greatly appreciated as I really don't know what to do. I have a friend who said they told the DWP they were going to uni and it did not affect their ESA and they just used the maintenance loan to buy extra luxuries which sounds ludicrous to me. I don't want to get into financial difficulty especially as my ESA had just been upped but I also don't want to commit any type of fraud. HELP!!!

Reply 1

Popsicle1981

2

Hi

First of all I would advise seeking out a Student Adviser at your Uni to get individual help with this as benefits and student finance can be tricky to deal with and you may need support in dealing with DWP as they often misunderstand the student benefit rules.

You can continue to claim ESA whilst a full-time student because you are on DLA/PIP. If you didn't have DLA/PIP then you could NOT continue to be eligible for ESA and would have to stop your claim. The other thing to note is that if you are a full-time (undergraduate) student on DLA/PIP, you are automatically eligible for ESA so they can't stop your ESA just because you are going to Uni. There is an understanding that going to University is not the same as being 'fit for work' so it can't be held against you.

However, if your are on Income Related ESA, then some of your student finance is taken as income and will reduce the amount of ESA you receive. For example, someone in the support group may only receive 10 pounds per week ESA during the academic year because of their student maintenance loan income.

You should be receiving the Maintenance Loan with Special Support Element as you are a disabled student on ESA and PIP - did you send your benefit letters to Student Finance to prove you are on ESA/PIP? If you are not sure, give student finance a call to make sure you are receiving the correct type of maintenance loan.

Your student loan income is only take into consideration during the academic year, so when you start studying, ESA will reduce in the amount you receive, then in the summer your ESA payments go back up, then they go back down again in September when you go into the next year of your course. You are supposed to tell DWP that you become a full-time student and send them a copy of your student finance entitlement letter as this is considered a Change of Circumstances. You risk getting overpaid if you don't do this. However, make an appointment to see a Student Adviser about this before calling DWP as they could just stop your payments by mistake (because they tend to get very confused about the student benefit rules!). The adviser should also make sure that you are getting the Maintenance Loan with Special Support Element as you need to be on that for your benefits to be calculated correctly.

As you are a disabled student on ESA and DLA, you most likely qualify for Housing Benefit as well to help with your rent cost too if you are living outside your family home.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 2

Tiger Rag

22

The person has given you some good advice. DWP aren't automatically informed of anything. You have to inform them yourself.

Reply 3

Ladyt03

OP

2

Hi,can I firstly say thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my message. I have made an appointment to see a student advisor as you suggested as I am not getting the maintenance loan with the special support element as I did not send my ESA entitlement letter to student finance as I didn't know I had to. I can't thank you enough for all the vital information you gave me,it has helped me out loads. I will update on here after my appointment to let you know what happened and so other students who are having the same predicament know what to do. Thank you once again,you're an absolute star!

Reply 4

Scribbles163

1

Hi Ladyt03, what was your outcome on getting all this sorted? Thanks!

Reply 5

Donna 12

2

Hi I am in the same situation as yourself , I claim DLA and in the support group for ESA and im conserved if I can manage finances. I have been approved for he higher maintenance grant but had to send proofs of benefits to student finance. You can also get help from DSA depending on your disability.

Reply 6

Donna 12

2

Original post by Donna 12

Hi I am in the same situation as yourself , I claim DLA and in the support group for ESA and im conserved if I can manage finances. I have been approved for he higher maintenance grant but had to send proofs of benefits to student finance. You can also get help from DSA depending on your disability. Hope you get it all sorted.

Reply 7

Jaysonomannn

1

Hi I'm a full time MA student in receipt of the PG loan of 10280 I have taken residency in university halls and have made the short fall in costs myself so am completely without money. My problem is I stay in London and she lives in her own bought flat in Dorset and she gets pip and is in the higher support group for esa I had been bolted onto her claim as a partner but if she gets no money we will have to break up and she will claim as single as I can't help her with money and her family would have to support her until I made money wmough to not worry about it but what will we receive if a we were a)singletons or b)partner living away

Reply 8

Jaysonomannn

1

Just to add I am not disabled myself but my partner is worried she will only be living on pip as we were informed by dwp voicemail message all the loan is taken as income and my partner will have nothing !!! it is extremely stressful will I have to break up si she will claim as single and I get a job in London and keep residency at uni and parents home or can we keep as partners with one living away from home and she gets to eat and have most of the ESA which if she got I would still let her have what ever It came to I am 42 btw

Reply 9

Rhodie72

9

Original post by Jaysonomannn

Just to add I am not disabled myself but my partner is worried she will only be living on pip as we were informed by dwp voicemail message all the loan is taken as income and my partner will have nothing !!! it is extremely stressful will I have to break up si she will claim as single and I get a job in London and keep residency at uni and parents home or can we keep as partners with one living away from home and she gets to eat and have most of the ESA which if she got I would still let her have what ever It came to I am 42 btw

I went through this last year. You need to take this up with your MP to stop them ending your esa claim because you are only entitled to travel costs of about £300 and stationery costs around £260 before they take additional student loan money as income in their stupid calculations. It is discriminatory against disabled people and you may have to fight this in the courts under the equality act.

Reply 10

Thomas tingle

1

Jasonomannn This is advice is probably too late. However, if you are not living together and therefore not 'partners' according to DWP, I would have thought you should be treated as single. So in that case, your girlfriend should tell DWP you are no longer living with her. She and you should not keep referring to each other as partners, because to DWP it means you are technically living together. just say you are boyfriend and girlfriend, which you are, if not living together. Then she can do a change of circumstances to say you have left and can claim benefits as a single person. You then are a single person in your own right. Unless you get EsA for yourself and DLA and Pip or you are a lone parent with the youngest child living with you is under 5 and claiming I come support, you won't be able to get any benefits whilst at uni yourself. You can just apply for the postgraduate student loan and maybe work p/t. You should not have to pay council tax if you are a fulltime student, but there are exceptions. Need proof of your uni. You can apply for free prescriptions, dental treatment, eye tests etc if you are not getting benefits, but are on a low income. I think you have to fill in a HC2 form. But as benefit regulations and student finance regulations change constantly, it is best to get an appointment with Citizens Advice Bureau( who provide fres confidential advice) or student finance office at your uni.

Reply 11

A63

2

Original post by Ladyt03

Hi,I am due to start my undergraduate course at uni in 2 days time but I am really concerned about my financial situation. I currently receive DLA and ESA which I have just had a review for where they moved me from the work related activity group to the higher support group which was a huge weight off my mind. At my ESA interview they knew I had been at college for the past 3 years gaining GCSE grades and that I had recently completed an access course. I did not tell them I was going on to university as I had not decided if this was the right route for me even though I had applied at the time. To cut a long story short, today I received part of my student maintenance loan but I have not informed the DWP so next week I will still receive my usual amount of ESA. Can I still receive ESA as a disabled student and do I need to inform them? As I said I have only just had a review for ESA and I am worried that now I might have to have another review and they will use me going to uni against me. Also are the DWP automatically informed by the uni or student finance about a student attending uni? Any answers would be greatly appreciated as I really don't know what to do. I have a friend who said they told the DWP they were going to uni and it did not affect their ESA and they just used the maintenance loan to buy extra luxuries which sounds ludicrous to me. I don't want to get into financial difficulty especially as my ESA had just been upped but I also don't want to commit any type of fraud. HELP!!!

Hi there, really helpful post! Can you tell me if I’m eligible for ESA, Ive switched from full time, to distance learning (which is still classed as full time cause I will finish the course at the same time,) but means I only attend University once a week due to ill health. It’s still titled as a Full Time course but attend uni part time.. confusing.. will I get ESA? Thank u I’m advance!

Reply 12

Rhodie72

9

Original post by A63

Hi there, really helpful post! Can you tell me if I’m eligible for ESA, Ive switched from full time, to distance learning (which is still classed as full time cause I will finish the course at the same time,) but means I only attend University once a week due to ill health. It’s still titled as a Full Time course but attend uni part time.. confusing.. will I get ESA? Thank u I’m advance!

I guess you found out the hard way. ESA-IR is incorrectly administered by DWP. If you are disabled you can try fight them in the courts but that may take years you don't have or cannot afford.

Reply 13

jonsy

1

Original post by Ladyt03

Hi,I am due to start my undergraduate course at uni in 2 days time but I am really concerned about my financial situation. I currently receive DLA and ESA which I have just had a review for where they moved me from the work related activity group to the higher support group which was a huge weight off my mind. At my ESA interview they knew I had been at college for the past 3 years gaining GCSE grades and that I had recently completed an access course. I did not tell them I was going on to university as I had not decided if this was the right route for me even though I had applied at the time. To cut a long story short, today I received part of my student maintenance loan but I have not informed the DWP so next week I will still receive my usual amount of ESA. Can I still receive ESA as a disabled student and do I need to inform them? As I said I have only just had a review for ESA and I am worried that now I might have to have another review and they will use me going to uni against me. Also are the DWP automatically informed by the uni or student finance about a student attending uni? Any answers would be greatly appreciated as I really don't know what to do. I have a friend who said they told the DWP they were going to uni and it did not affect their ESA and they just used the maintenance loan to buy extra luxuries which sounds ludicrous to me. I don't want to get into financial difficulty especially as my ESA had just been upped but I also don't want to commit any type of fraud. HELP!!!

Hi, I know your post is 5 years old, I'm currently in the same situation. Any advice would be so helpful

Reply 14

Revgal

1

Original post by jonsy

Hi, I know your post is 5 years old, I'm currently in the same situation. Any advice would be so helpful

I’m in this situation myself right now as starting uni in sept. How did u get on?

Reply 15

Rhodie72

9

Original post by Ladyt03

Hi,I am due to start my undergraduate course at uni in 2 days time but I am really concerned about my financial situation. I currently receive DLA and ESA which I have just had a review for where they moved me from the work related activity group to the higher support group which was a huge weight off my mind. At my ESA interview they knew I had been at college for the past 3 years gaining GCSE grades and that I had recently completed an access course. I did not tell them I was going on to university as I had not decided if this was the right route for me even though I had applied at the time. To cut a long story short, today I received part of my student maintenance loan but I have not informed the DWP so next week I will still receive my usual amount of ESA. Can I still receive ESA as a disabled student and do I need to inform them? As I said I have only just had a review for ESA and I am worried that now I might have to have another review and they will use me going to uni against me. Also are the DWP automatically informed by the uni or student finance about a student attending uni? Any answers would be greatly appreciated as I really don't know what to do. I have a friend who said they told the DWP they were going to uni and it did not affect their ESA and they just used the maintenance loan to buy extra luxuries which sounds ludicrous to me. I don't want to get into financial difficulty especially as my ESA had just been upped but I also don't want to commit any type of fraud. HELP!!!

To all of you on ESA. You are going to switch to Universal Credit. To continue claiming UC (ESA) you can only study Part Time as FULL TIME EDUCATION WILL AUTOMATICALLY EXCLUDE YOU FROM CLAIMING BENEFITS!!!

I KNOW THIS FROM EXPERIENCE!

DWP WILL STOP BENEFITS WITHOUT WARNING.
My wife was disabled and claimed ESA. I started my full time degree and 6 weeks later she still had received ESA. I had to change my course to part time instead for her to resume claiming ESA. DWP lied to us saying we would not be affected. I lost my entitlement to Carer's Allowance also.

Nobody tells you anything properly about this and DWP just dillydally and dance around the issues without giving clear answers because they want to stop paying whatever they can avoid paying. They did restart payments eventually after several weeks but for 2 months we starved and had to live off credit cards and the measly paltry student maintenance loan.

NUTSHELL:

2024:

•

You cannot claim ESA/UC once enrolled on full time degree