In general, most full-time students are not eligible for means-tested welfare benefits. There are exceptions including for lone parents, student couples with children and disabled students.
In general, being a part-time
student doesn't preclude you from means-tested benefits but it may affect your
eligibility.
The rules for students and
benefits are very complicated and are often different to what they would be if
you were not a student.
Entitlement to benefits for people who are carers, sick, unable to work or disabled can also be different or more complex when they are also a student.
Seek advice on any welfare benefit matter you are unsure about or are struggling with.
Seek
advice if you are moving from claiming welfare benefits into Higher Education.
Seek
advice if you are a student and your circumstances change and you think you may
have become entitled to benefits.
It can be a challenge finding a
specialist adviser who knows all the rules that apply to students. Perhaps
start with your university or College money advice services or Student Union
Advice but do check that they are able to offer specialist welfare
benefit advice - not all will be sufficiently expert but should help to
signpost you to local services that can help.
This link may help you find a
suitable adviser in the local community.
At Levitate Student we don't
want to reinvent the wheel......that happens too often and information is
diluted or out of date.
Our aim is to help you as a
student consumer to Know where to
Look for trusted information.
The excellent charity Turn2Us have developed a comprehensive
student and benefits resources.
•
Full-time
Students and benefits
•
Part-time
Students and benefits
Student
Support and benefits - this is useful to help you know which
elements of your student income are taken into account when calculating
means-tested benefits.
This expert organisation Child
Poverty Action Group CPAG provided guidance relevant to benefits in
Scotland
Not for the fainthearted are the Department of Work and Pensions own Decision Makers Guides and Advice for Decision Makers published to give the public insight into how some benefit decisions are made.
These can be helpful when trying
to challenge a benefit decision to understand how a decision may have been made
and check if it is correct.
It is wise to seek specialist help with such matters from a welfare benefit expert (see Turn2Us - Find an Adviser ) but as the information is public, we include it here for information.
•
DMG
Chapter 30 Students, Young Claimants and their Partners
