Carer of disabled adult child doing masters

Hi All,

We’ve got a client who is the carer of her adult child who receives PIP. She has previously been claiming CA/IS. She recently began a full time master’s course (9 hours at uni, 12 hours personal study/week) which has suspended her CA and HB. She has received the 10k master’s loan.

As we can see it, we can argue that her CA should continue (arguably not FT student due to needing 21 hours/week supervised study), but that still doesn’t entitle her to housing benefit as far as we can see.

We’d welcome any ideas about how she might receive HB.

Cannot see anything that allows a carer to get HB as a full time student, so I think all you can do is argue she is not a “full time student”.  The Regs don’t really take us very far: a full time student is defined as someone undertaking a “full time course of study”, which in turn (if it isn’t a funded post 16 course) has the definition “full time course of study”!

There is a reasonably on-point Court of Appeal case,  SoS for W&P v Amanda Deane, but it really isn’t helpful to someone in this claimant’s situation.  The case is a Carers Allowance appeal and a lot of it is devoted to how exactly 21 hours should be calculated, but the general conclusions at the end seem to have quite wide application.  You could sum it up as saying if the educational establishment has an expectation that you will devote yourself full time to your studies, then you are a full time student.  Rushing assignments to complete them at part-time equivalent speed won’t change that.

Thank you for the response!