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Student support and benefits income assessment
Effect of benefits/income on student support income assessment
Most student support funding depends on the level of your income and, if appropriate, your parents' or spouse/civil partner's income. The only allowances which are not income assessed are:
- the Disabled Students Allowance
- the Additional Support Needs for Learning Allowance
- part of the student loan
- tuition fee waivers for full-time students
- travel and study allowances for students under 18 ( FE courses only).
Higher education courses
If you are studying a higher education course, you must tell SAAS about all of your income from all sources throughout the academic year, including welfare benefits. If you are unmarried and 25 or over on the first day of your course, or you have been supporting yourself financially for at least 3 years before the course start date, only your own income will be taken into account. If you are under 25, your parents or spouse's income will be taken into account with regards to student support entitlement.
If your own income is being assessed, SAAS ignore the following when they are calculating your entitlement:
- income earned by working during the year, regardless of how much you earn or whether you work during term-time or in the holidays
- income from a scholarship or sponsorship up to £4,675 - anything after this amount will reduce your entitlement
- Child Benefit
- income from student loans or hardship funds
- any state pension, pension payable because of disability or incapacity, any pension if you are over 50, and the first £3,765 of any other pension income
- any income tax and National Insurance contributions that you pay
- Disability Living Allowance or Incapacity Benefit
- £2,255 from trust income of students with no living parents.
SAAS will then ignore the first £995 of any income you have left (or £2,155 if you are a single student with dependents). After that deduction, whatever you have left will reduce your student support, pound for pound.
If your parents' or spouse's income is being assessed, SAAS will ignore the following:
- domestic help - if both your parents or your spouse/civil partner are disabled, SAAS will ignore the cost in wages of domestic help up to £2,090
- if one of your parents is receiving a student support grant, £1,075 will be ignored
- superannuation payments and retirement annuity premiums that qualify for tax relief.
Further education courses
If you are on a further education course, you must tell the college about all your income from all sources. If you are a self-supporting student, your own income as well as your spouse/partner's income (if appropriate) will be taken into account. You will be defined as self-supporting if you are 25 or over, or if you are under 25 and married, have no living parents, are caring for a child or have supported yourself for no less than 3 years.
If you are supported by your parents, your own income and your parents' will be assessed.
Your college will ignore the following when means-testing your own income:
- all non-taxable benefits - most benefits are non-taxable except for Incapacity Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance and Carers Allowance
- Child Tax Credit and child maintenance
- any loan income or payments from the college Hardship Fund or Childcare Fund
- any funds from private or charitable sources for educational purposes
- adoption and fostering allowance with the exception of the 'fee' element of the fostering allowance
- trust income less than £58.62 per week if you have no parents living
- any income from the student's own earnings
- unearned income less than £41.71 per week.
Your leftover income after these deductions are made is reduced by any child support or maintenance payments over the academic year for dependants not living in your household.The final amount which is left reduces the amount of student support you receive on a pound-for-pound basis.
When assessing your parents' or partner's income, the college will ignore the following:
- all non-taxable benefits
- Severe Disablement Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Child Tax Credit, Incapacity Benefit and Carer's Allowance
- any loan income
- if the parent/partner is also a student, any payment from bursaries, hardship funds, childcare funds and any student loan income.
As with the process of assessing your own income, your parents'/partner's leftover income after these deductions are made is reduced by any child support or maintenance payments for dependents (other than yourself) not living in your household. The final amount which is left reduces the amount of student support you receive on a pound-for-pound basis.
Student support and benefits income assessment
Effect of student support on benefits income assessment
Some benefits are given regardless of your income, but others are based on an income assessment, also known as a means-test. These means-tested benefits are Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, and the Social Fund. Where eligibility for Health Benefits arise from low income, rather than a disability or illness, a means-test would also be required for these.
Ignored student income
When assessing your income for means-tested benefit entitlement the following grants are ignored: grants for tuition fees, Disabled Students Allowance, Additional Support Needs for Learning Allowance, loans for part-time students, any childcare grants, travel expense allowances, Education Maintenance Allowance, any grants for study expenses such as books or equipment and any Individual Learning Account payments. Lone Parents Grant is disregarded for Income Support and income-based Jobseekers Allowance if you get Child Tax Credit, but is taken into account for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. Voluntary or charitable payments are ignored for Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Income Support and Jobseekers Allowance.
Living Costs Grants
Any bursaries or grants for living costs will be taken into account as income over the period for which they are payable, e.g. a care leavers grant over the long holiday period, Young Students Bursary throughout the academic year or Dependents' grant. Further education maintenance bursaries will be treated as income, although the first £361 for books and equipment and £285 for travel will be ignored.
Hardship funds will be taken into account as income if paid for basic living costs (although up to £20 per week will be ignored) but will be completely ignored if paid for other items. You should ask your college or university for a letter saying what the payment is for and how it is paid.
Student loan
It is important to note that the full amount of student loan that you are entitled to will be taken into account, even if you do not actually take out the loan.
When the Department of Work and Pensions ( DWP) consider your loan amount for income purposes, they first ignore the following amounts (2006/2007 rates):
- £285 a year for travel costs
- £361 a year for books and equipment (but note that any grant specifically for these costs is ignored).
If you have not actually taken up your loan entitlement, these ignored amounts for travel and study expenses are deducted from any grant income instead. The part-time student loan is ignored as income.
Your loan amount which is leftover after these deductions is then divided up by the number of weeks in your year of study. Thereafter, the first £10 a week of your student loan will not be taken into account. But the amount of loan entitlement over £10 a week will directly reduce your benefit, pound for pound.
Career Development Loans
Career Development Loans are taken into account if they are intended to pay for daily living costs. If the loan is for anything else, it is fully disregarded. The living costs part of the full amount is taken into account in full over the period of study covered by the loan, i.e. usually September-June.
Vicky keeps her welfare benefits while learning
Vicky has been unable to work for health reasons for a few years and wants to do a course in business studies at her local college as a way of training for a new career.
As Vicky gets Disability Living Allowance ( DLA) to pay for her daily care and mobility costs, she does not have to pay course fees on a part-time college course. She decides to do the course over two years and arranges with the college to have flexibility built into her course timetable so that she can have time off for hospital appointments.
Vicky's entitlement to certain welfare benefits is unaffected by taking up the part-time course - she will still receive her Income Support, Incapacity Benefit, DLA, and Housing Benefit. Vicky also applies to the college for help with travel costs.
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