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Students and Benefits E-bulletin - June 2009
Dear Colleague,
Welcome to the June edition of CPAG in Scotland's students and benefits e-bulletin, keeping you up-to-date with changes to benefits and tax credits which may be relevant to students.
Contents:
CPAG news and events
- Benefits for students training
- Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook
Benefits and tax credits
- JSA for lone parents
- Young people in further education
- Enquiry from CPAG’s advice line
Student funding and benefits
- Education maintenance allowance
- ILA Scotland
CPAG news and events
Benefits for students training
Forthcoming training on benefits for students:
For information about fees click here. To book a place click here or contact Betty Kelly on (0141) 552 3303 / bkelly@cpagscotland.org.uk
You can also book our student and benefits training courses in-house at your workplace or a venue that suits you.
To view all our students and benefits training courses visit: www.cpag.org.uk/scotland/training/students
Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook
The online version of the Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook has been updated with new benefit rates and other changes, so please refer to this, rather than the paper version, in case something has changed. The handbook is at http://scottishhandbooks.cpag.org.uk
The 7th edition of the handbook for the academic year 2009/10 will be available from mid-September. Remember all colleges, universities and CABx get one free copy, courtesy of the Scottish Government, distributed automatically. You can order additional copies at: http://www.cpag.org.uk/publications/studentscotland/
Benefits and tax credits
JSA for lone parents
As mentioned in the March ebulletin, lone parents on full-time courses may be able to claim jobseeker's allowance (JSA) in the summer vacation between years of the course, if they are not eligible for income support. You must be available for and actively seeking work, although there are new flexibilities in the JSA Regulations to reflect the responsibilities of lone parents. These include:
- Counting as available for work in the school holidays, if you care for a child under 16, and it is unreasonable to make other arrangements for their care.
- Counting as available for work, if your child is excluded from school.
- Only having to be available for work for at least 16 hours per week (it is usually 40 hours) even if this means no reasonable prospects of employment within daily travelling distance.
- Only needing to be available for an interview on one week's notice, and available for work on 28 days’ notice if the usual notice periods are unreasonable.
- More generous flexibilities for someone whose child is subject to a parenting order.
- If a lone parent refuses a job offer, decision makers must have regard as to whether there is suitable childcare reasonably available and whether the cost would represent too high a proportion of the wages, in deciding whether they had ‘good cause’ for doing so. This also applies when someone leaves a job or fails to undertake a Jobseeker's Direction.
Young people in further education
Young people on further education courses of over 12 hours per week are eligible for HB, if they are liable for rent, and for IS, if they are in certain groups e.g., they are a parent, or are estranged from their parents. These rules apply to under 19-year-olds and also to 19-year-olds who were under 19 when they were accepted on, enrolled on or started their course.
Amendments to the HB and IS regulations (amended by statutory instrument 2009/583) have extended these rules to age 21. For HB, you are now eligible if you are aged 20 and on a course you started when you were under 19. For IS, you are eligible if you are aged 20, and on a course you were accepted on, enrolled on or started when you were under 19, and you are:
- An orphan with no one (ie a foster parent or local authority) acting in place of a parent.
- Living away from parents because you are estranged from them, or because of a serious risk to your physical and mental health, or because of physical or moral danger.
- Living away from parents who cannot support you and your parents are sick, disabled, in prison, or are not allowed to enter Britain.
Enquiry from CPAG’s advice line
Q: Young person is at school, going to college to do a further education course in autumn. He will be 18 in September 2009, and will be getting specialist help in the college. He gets high rate care and mobility components of disability living allowance (DLA), and an EMA. Can he apply for employment and support allowance (ESA) or income support (IS) when he goes to college? How much will he get?
A: He can apply now for ESA. You cannot get IS as a sick or disabled person if you are making a new/first claim after 27 October 2008. He will be eligible for ESA in youth (like incapacity benefit in youth), although while he is under 19 he cannot get this if he studies 21 hours or more per week, although this excludes any hours, which would only be suitable for someone with a disability. Because he will be getting support in college, it is likely that this rule will not stop him from getting ESA in youth. He can also get income-related ESA - this is only available to full-time students who get DLA. This will give him additional money - he will be eligible for an enhanced disability premium. After around 13 weeks and when he has had a medical he will get an additional component of around £25 or £30 per week (this in effect has replaced the old disability premium in income support). Note that an EMA is not counted as income. Claiming benefit in his own right will affect any benefit his parents get for him. To check whether they will be better off overall, the family should seek advice from a local CAB.
Student funding
Education maintenance allowance
An education maintenance allowance (EMA) can be paid to a young person who is beyond statutory school leaving age, but still at school or in further education. From August 2009 any new student who is eligible can get an EMA of £30 per week if their parents’ income is not more than £20,351, or £22,403 if the parents have other children under 16, or in full-time education up to age 25. Previously, students could be paid £10, £20 or £30 per week, depending on household income. Continuing students who have already been getting an EMA can continue to be paid under the previous rules. For more information go to http://www.emascotland.com
ILA Scotland
ILA Scotland provides grants to help people pay for courses of education. From summer 2009 you can now get funding if your personal income is less than £22,000 (previously the income limit was £18,000). There now more courses to choose from, and more flexibility, for those eligible for the ILA500. For more information go to http://www.ilascotland.org.uk
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www.cpag.org.uk |
' Michaela Greene
