UC for bereaved 19yo university student

Hi all, just had this referral so details are a little sparse but just wanted to check general principles before I move forward.

Client is 19yo and is a university student. Her mother has passed away suddenly. Father is not around. The family home is a council property. Rent had been covered by mother’s UC claim. Client has been referred to me for “advice about claiming Housing Benefit”.

Assuming client is not getting DLA/PIP…

Any new claim for housing costs will need to be for UC. I have gone through the list of circumstances where somebody who is receiving education can claim UC (p868/9 of current CPAG book) and I do not think any of these apply to client.

Am I missing something or is client left with the options of either giving up Uni and claiming UC whilst she looks for work; approaching her Uni to find out if there are options to fund her accommodation through student finance or paying for the rent herself by working alongside her course?

It seems such a difficult choice to put on her at such an awful time?

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[Edit] kind of answering my own question - thinking about this one possibility would be for client to approach uni re converting her course from full-time to part-time?

Uni support services should be the first port of call, they may even have funds available for this eventuality in particular. They’ll expect the client to make longer term arrangements with benefits etc, but should, in theory, be willing to top up income to enable the student to continue her course.

https://www.gov.uk/extra-money-pay-university/university-and-college-hardship-funds

Note that there will also be an expectation for the student to take up maximum available loans/grants.

Thanks for the reply Va1der 😊