Student Maintenance Loan in Mandatory Reconsideration with UC

My main question, is how long has anyone had to wait for a Mandatory Reconsideration to be actioned with UC for student finance calculations?

Looking online, this seems to be a VERY common occurrence, that the treatment of student finance income is often calculated incorrectly, and results in delays which lead to financial hardship for students eligible to still claim UC whilst attending their course. Despite trying to provide evidence since July, my statement was delayed by over 2 weeks so a statement due 09/10, was not received until 22/10.

I myself, verified with a work coach over the phone, in person, and the UC helpline, that I would be treated as a student for Oct-May, and therefore my assessment period 07/09-06/10 would be excluded due to only two days attendance. My assessment period beginning 07/10/25 and 8th one ending 06/06/2026 would be when it was counted.

The case manager has applied the 8 assessments for 07/09/25 - 06/05/2025 ( Semester runs 29/09 - 22/05 )

This means with my reported income, I expected to receive a little over £1000 payment during October (referring to September assessment).

This delayed action means that I was treated as both a full-time student AND a work seeker - attending work focused interviews despite having income - for September. My earnings were deducted at 55p per £1 over the £411 allowance, alongside SFE.

The Student Finance deduction was also overstated, due to an error in calculations. This meant instead I was awarded £0, and currently receive nothing whilst at university, despite being entitled.

I receive a parent's learning allowance, which means I will now be ineligible to claim 85% of the childcare costs back through UC.

It turns out that the case manager included the grants in my calculation, as unearned income. It is very clear in principle that this should be disregarded. They also refused to look at their calculation when I provided the calculations and list of deductibles and exclusions. They also refused to confirm how they met their deducted figure, so I've had to work it out as at first I believed they'd made no deductions and just divided the sum over 12 assessments.

There is no deadline for how long a MR can take! So I could be waiting 3-8 months, to have pay backdated.... when the student finance entitlement letter details itself what should or should not be included. I've witnessed it the other way, where they encouraged someone to take out an advance as they did the calculations and then took it back saying they were not entitled to anything, resulting in hardship due to debt they advised to take on!

Reply 1

SFE Clare

Official Rep

Hi Abbiebumble,

If you check this on their website or contact them directly, they may be able to advise of their processing timescales. Unfortunately, we don't have access to their timescales.

Thanks, Clare