Student support and benefits income assessment
Effect of benefits on student support income assessment
If you are studying a higher education course, you must tell SAAS about all of your income from all sources throughout the academic year. SAAS ignore the following when they are calculating your total income with regards to student support 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 £4,570 - 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 £3,680 of any other pension income
- any income tax and National Insurance contributions that you pay
- Disability Living Allowance or Incapacity Benefit
- £2,205 from trust income of students with no living parents.
SAAS will then ignore the first £970 of any income you have left. After that deduction, whatever you have left will reduce your student support, pound for pound.
If you are on a further education course, your college will ignore the following when means-testing your 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 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 £57.29 per week if you have no parents living
- any income from the student's own earnings
- unearned income less than £40.76 per week.
Your left-over 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.
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 mean-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 and Council Tax Benefit.
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 Dependants grant. Further education maintenance bursaries will be treated as income, although the first £352 for books and equipment and £280 for travel will be ignored.
Hardship funds will be taken into account as income if paid for basic living costs (although the first £20 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 DWP consider your loan amount for income purposes, they first ignore the following amounts (2005/2006 rates):
- £280 a year for travel costs
- £352 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.