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UC - student finance -suspended studies
Hoping for some help with this case.
Cl was at university studying a degree, has had to suspend their course due to ill health, they have not attended this academic year and have a letter from the Uni confirming that their course is suspended from 22/9/22 and they are expected to return 18/9/23.
They are however too unwell to return in Sept 2023 anyway and will need to take at least another year out.
In the meantime, cl has had a student loan (I think incorrectly?), has been living in supported accommodation and tried to claim UC and HB. Neither have been paid as they say that he is still a student as he has the maintenance loan.
Cl now has massive rent arrears as a result.
From what I am reading, (reg 13 UC regs), the issue seems to be that his course is suspended rather than fully abandoned or dismissed.
Am I right in thinking that the only way that they will qualify for HB/UC is if the course is abandoned?
They don’t seem to fit into any of the categories of students who could claim, he has LCWRA now but no PIP and no children etc.
Just want to be sure I haven’t missed something as I think that the cl is reluctant to fully abandon their course, but they are currently living on their student loan and not paying any rent, which obviously cannot continue.
And should they have continued to receive the Maintenance loan anyway?
HI Charlotte
This reply is about the UC aspect only.
Someone does not necessarily need to abandon their course to receive UC, they can get UC if their course is suspended because of ill health, but they must have the agreement of the Uni and not be getting a grant or student finance. You said your client has a letter from the Uni, but the sticking point seems to be they are receiving student finance, so are currently excluded because of this. Student finance can continue while someone suspends their course, but at the discretion of the student loans company.
Provision is in UC Reg 14(4) - extract below
(4) A person is not to be regarded as undertaking a course for any part of the period mentioned in paragraph (1) during which the following conditions are met—
(a)the person has, with the consent of the relevant educational establishment, ceased to attend or undertake the course because they are ill or caring for another person;
(b)the person has recovered from that illness or ceased caring for that person within the past year, but not yet resumed the course; and
(c)the person is not eligible for a grant or student loan.
You may want to also look at ADM Chapter H6 in particular paragraph H6040 which has a worked example about someone called Vivian. Hopefully this link to the ADM works for you <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1165971/admh6.pdf>
Whoops the full link is:
<https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1165971/admh6.pdf>
Thanks, but the issue in this case is that he hasn’t actually recovered yet (as well as the fact he is receiving student finance), so I don’t think that we can use that provision.
Was the LCWRA determination in connection with an ESA claim by any chance? If so, that would provide a route to HB eligibility after 196 days by virtue of HB Reg 56(2)(ea). Unlike DWP benefits, he doesn’t need PIP to get HB on grounds of LCW/LCWRA
If it was a UC LCWRA determination made before he was a student, that won’t help for HB purposes. All he could do now would be claim ESA, and presumably not qualify because he doesn’t meet the contribution conditions, but get a “credits only” LCW determination. There would have to be a new LCW assessment for ESA purposes, because the way I read it anything done for UC purposes no longer affects ESA once the claimant is no longer entitled to UC: see Reg 16(1)(h) of the ESA Regs 2013. So that would open up the way to an LCW assessment that satisfies HB Reg 56.
He would then become eligible for HB from around next February. Not ideal but better than nothing.
Alternatively, if he would qualify for any rate of PIP at all, the HB applicable amount would include a disability premium and that would also make him eligible for HB. That would have immediate effect if you think it’s worth a shot.
He might also satisfy UC Reg 14 if he claims PIP now, although I can see DWP resisting that if the LCW determination predates a period in which there was no UC entitlement and the basic eligibility conditions were no longer met (Reg 28(4) doesn’t apply). Arguably all that does is block exemption from the “relevant period” before the LCWRA element kicks in, I don’t think it extinguishes the underlying LCWRA status from the previous UC award, but I don’t expect it would go smoothly. I’m sure this has been discussed before
This may help a bit: https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/19326/#91230
Was the LCWRA determination in connection with an ESA claim by any chance? If so, that would provide a route to HB eligibility after 196 days by virtue of HB Reg 56(2)(ea). Unlike DWP benefits, he doesn’t need PIP to get HB on grounds of LCW/LCWRA.
Does this only relate to students? I have not come across this before.
OP says it’s supported accommodation, hence he tried to claim HB. So it goes like this:
- generally, no working age HB claims allowed for anyone, student or not ... except for supported acc/TA
- even in supported acc/TA, full time higher education students are excluded from HB. But there is an exception for those with long-term LCW
I didn’t intend to imply that LCW provides a route to HB instead of UC like the old SDP gateway. HB is only in play here because it’s supported accommodation
Thank you, yes, I forgot he was in supported accommodation. Makes sense now!
Was the LCWRA determination in connection with an ESA claim by any chance? If so, that would provide a route to HB eligibility after 196 days by virtue of HB Reg 56(2)(ea). Unlike DWP benefits, he doesn’t need PIP to get HB on grounds of LCW/LCWRA
If it was a UC LCWRA determination made before he was a student, that won’t help for HB purposes. All he could do now would be claim ESA, and presumably not qualify because he doesn’t meet the contribution conditions, but get a “credits only” LCW determination. There would have to be a new LCW assessment for ESA purposes, because the way I read it anything done for UC purposes no longer affects ESA once the claimant is no longer entitled to UC: see Reg 16(1)(h) of the ESA Regs 2013. So that would open up the way to an LCW assessment that satisfies HB Reg 56.
He would then become eligible for HB from around next February. Not ideal but better than nothing.
Alternatively, if he would qualify for any rate of PIP at all, the HB applicable amount would include a disability premium and that would also make him eligible for HB. That would have immediate effect if you think it’s worth a shot.
He might also satisfy UC Reg 14 if he claims PIP now, although I can see DWP resisting that if the LCW determination predates a period in which there was no UC entitlement and the basic eligibility conditions were no longer met (Reg 28(4) doesn’t apply). Arguably all that does is block exemption from the “relevant period” before the LCWRA element kicks in, I don’t think it extinguishes the underlying LCWRA status from the previous UC award, but I don’t expect it would go smoothly. I’m sure this has been discussed before
Thanks for this. I was hoping there was some mileage in the LCW that he had via UC, I was looking at HB reg 56 (2) (ea), but you say this would not work as has to come via an ESA claim.
Sadly I don’t think there is a neat answer to this one!
Thank you for everyone’s input.
Hi Charlotte
There is some caselaw that indicates a “modular course” could be quite broadly defined if completed a year:
RVS v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (ESA): [2019] UKUT 102 (AAC) https://www.gov.uk/administrative-appeals-tribunal-decisions/rvs-v-secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions-esa-2019-ukut-102-aac
Finding that each year of study could amount to ‘part’ of a modular course, the Judge ruled that in this case the claimant had completed his second year successfully and that he had never embarked on the next ‘part’ of that course, namely the third year. Therefore, when he claimed ESA he was not ‘undertaking a part of a modular course’ as the previous part had ended on the last day of his second year of study. The claimant was thus not receiving education and not excluded from entitlement to ESA.
Note: similar wording applies to universal credit (Regulation 13(1)(b) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013), and therefore a student taking time out of a modular course where they have finished one ‘part’ and not yet started the next, may be able to claim universal credit.
Taken from our Student Project: https://cpag.org.uk/scotland/welfare-rights/students-benefits/students-and-benefits-e-bulletin-june-2019#caselaw
Mark
That’s an interesting decision Mark, thanks for highlighting it.
Lucky for the claimant that Judge Poynter accepted the FtT’s finding of fact that the course was modular, without having to scrutinise it too much. It reads to me as if it was a bog-standard undergraduate course and the FtT’s finding that it was modular might have been vulnerable if Judge Poynter hadn’t been in such a good mood.