A client came in enquiring whether or not she would be entitled to claim income support if she studied a full-time foundation course at a local further and higher education college. I got the CPAG handbook out and looked up the query. On page 599 of the CPAG handbok it states that 'Even if you are a full-time student you can claim IS if you are a lone parent with a child under 16'. It doesnt go into any further detail regarding advanced or non-advanced education or the effect of capital from student loans or bursaries.

I telephoned my local income support department and they pointed out that if the course is advanced then any capital from loans or bursaries would be considered as capital and deducted from income support applicable amount. The income support adviser went on to say that in her experience student capital usually is great enough to take lone parents off income support alltogether. She did say however that the client could claim child tax credit. The girl said she wasnt aware of any grants or loans available to her. However I would agree with the adviser from IS that if it is a full-time advanced course there must be some financial assistance available.

Could someone confirm whether the advice from IS is accurate. CPAG handbook (from what I could see) was very vague. It seems a shame lone parents dont have any incentives to get into education and try to further their careers.

You need to be systematic about this:

(1) your client can claim IS as a full time student if she is a lone parent (as CPAG says);
(2) accordingly, you then need to check all of the rest of the entitlement conditions for IS to see if your client qualifies - this takes in issues around capital, income, etc as usual;

As for speculating whether her capital/income will be so high that she is not entitled, you either need to:

(1) do a benefit check yourself, calculating her applicable amounts and subtracting any relevant income from bursaries/dependent loans; or
(2) submit an IS/CTC claim with all relevant details, let DWP/IR make a decision, and then check for correctness.

I note that you are using last years CPAG handbook (2003/2004) so I suggest that you buy yourself an up-to-date handbook as a matter of urgency, otherwise you will also be advising people with out-of-date information and this is not a good thing.

I take your points. Firstly I was unable to do the benefit check i.e. calculate income and applicable amount and then subtract them if income is less because client said she was not entitled to loans or bursaries as far as she new. I suggested she contact the course director, clarify this and return to me with income details so as I could do an accurate benefit check. You suggest that I do a benefit check with incomplete information - this would not be a good thing either. Secondly although I used an out of date handbook I did clarify current legislation with my local Social Security office. And correct me if i am wrong but this is 2004 isnt it? However I will suggest that my organisation buy the revised version.

Kevin, you're absolutely correct that making decisions based on benefit checks without all of the information is bad practise; that's why I was slightly surprised that you were asking for views on a DWP officer doing exactly that i.e. speculating on your client's entitlement without knowing her circumstances. A statement such as "that in her experience student capital usually is great enough to take lone parents off income support alltogether" is about as meaningless as "most welfare rights advisers wear anoraks"......

As for the last point, CPAG Welfare Benefit & Tax Credit handbooks effectively cover the period of a tax year or a financial year i.e. April to March, hence the current book covers 2004/2005 now. Get your boss to splash the cash mate

CPAG do 2 new handbooks just on students, one for England & Wales and one for Scotland. We have found the England/Wales edition very useful so far (we don't advise Scotland you see). Might be worth investing in them if you advise a lot of students.

Sue
Gingerbread Advice Line

Sorry Kevin, I've just noticed you are in NI!

Again Paul your comments are helpful but perhaps I did not explain myself properly and that is my fault of course. I was not asking you to advise me on how to do a benefit check or whether a loan or bursary should be treated as income with regards to income support capital rules. I already know all this. I was just asking if someone could confirm whether or not special rules applied to lone-parents in full-time advanced education. I think it is a bit harsh that the government does not give this vulnerable group more incentives to enter into advanced education and hopefully break their dependance on welfare benefits.

I know that if the girl gets a loan or bursary this will be treated as income and adversely affect her claim to IS. I know there is a possibility that she might not be entitled to income support if her student income is too high. If this is the case she could make a claim to child tax credit. All I was saying was that I think the current state of affairs is inadequate and is there any other help or incentives that I am unaware of?

With regards to your point questioning why I contacted the Income Support adviser at my local SSO: Our local SSO is next door to the Further and Higher Education College. That income support section has dealt with alot of IS claimants who study the same full-time course that my client is interested in. Since my client wasnt aware of any loans or bursaries available to her I thought our income support sect would be aware of them since they have dealt with similar claims - i.e lone parents on the same course claiming IS.

To sum up I was really just having an old fashioned moan that lone-parent students are unfairly treated. Thanks for your contribution anyway - and I will definitely get that revised copy of CPAG - I honestly wasnt aware there was a new 2004/2005 copy.

Regards

Kevin, it seems that certain MPs share your concern about current rules of benefit entitlement and studying - from Hansard written questions 13/07/04. Unfortunately, they seem firm in their resolve not to reconsider this issue (see http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/cm040713/text/40713w13.htm#40713w13.html_sbhd5 )

Income Support
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Government plans to remove the limit on hours for education and unwaged training in income support. <182097>
Mr. Pond: Full-time students (those studying for 16 hours or more) will normally access financial support through the education system and we have no plans to change this. In certain limited circumstances a student may be eligible for income support; for example if they are a lone parent or they are disabled.
Any customer who satisfies the qualifying conditions for income support and is classed as undertaking education or unwaged training would not be subject to a limit on the number of hours that they participate in such activities.
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Government plans to remove the distinction between education and unwaged training in the eligibility for income support. <182101>
Mr. Pond: People undertaking full time education will normally access financial support through the education system, which provides, for example, Student Loans and Access Funds in order to meet everyday living expenses.
Unwaged training is usually work focused and is available through a variety of service providers. The funding for these providers only covers provision for training and does not include financial support for the trainee, in which case income support is available for eligible people.
The distinction between this form of training and full time education for the purposes of income support reflects the access to alternative financial support that people in education have and we have no plans to change this.

The key question is what kind of Foundation course is it that the student wishes to do. Here at City of Bath College we have Foundation courses that count as FE and others which are regarded as year zero of an HE course and therefore entitle the student to apply for Student Loans.
For an FE course as a lone parent your client falls into one of the categories who can disregrd the 16 hour rule and do a full-time course without jeopardising benefits. For a HE course the Benefits Agencies will assume that the student has taken out the full amount of the student loan (whether or not they have) and count this as income. In most cases the amount will exceed the applicable amount but the student will be able to claim housing Benefit.