Will studying affect my benefits?

[Joanne_170512]

Hi friends,

I'm thinking about becoming a mature student, the course is approx 3 days a week, unsure as to what the hours each day but at a guess I'd say 6.
Would the benefits I receive, carers allowance, income support etc, be affected?
I can't seem to find an answer elsewhere?
Thanks

[bowlingbun]

First step is to find out EXACTLY how many hours the course involves.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Should you walk into what we call the " 21 Hour Rule Trap " , the following thread , or , at least the earlier postings thereof , will be of interest :

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/news-and ... ents-29098

In essence , study for 21 hours or more per week and you can kiss goodbye to Carers Allowance.

Other benefits MAY also be affected as there are grants and allowances available to students which " Override " mainstream benefits.

Further complications if Universal Credit has kicked in on your manor or , is about to.

Try the post code checker for UC :

https://ucpostcode.entitledto.co.uk/ucdate

Ultimately , one for the Carers UK Advice Team ... contact details follow :

Carers UK Adviceline 0808 808 7777

http://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/talk-to-us

Our Adviceline is staffed by experts with extensive experience of dealing with the problems carers face. We provide free and confidential information and advice on:
* benefits and tax credits
* carers employment rights
* carers assessments
* the services available for carers, and how to complain effectively and challenge decisions.

Our freephone number is 0808 808 7777

Note: Our Listening Support Service is available Mondays and Tuesdays. This is a service which provides a space where carers can connect with a trained volunteer who is a carer or former carer to have a chat. The service is available on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10am to 4pm by ringing the same Adviceline number above.

Or you can email us at adviceline@carersuk.org We will try to answer your email as soon as possible but we may not be able to do so on the same day. http://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/talk-to-us

[Joanne_170512]

First step is to find out EXACTLY how many hours the course involves.

Thank you, I shall endeavour to find out exactly.

[Joanne_170512]

Should you walk into what we call the " 21 Hour Rule Trap " , the following thread , or , at least the earlier postings thereof , will be of interest :

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/news-and ... ents-29098

In essence , study for 21 hours or more per week and you can kiss goodbye to Carers Allowance.

Other benefits MAY also be affected as there are grants and allowances available to students which " Override " mainstream benefits.

Further complications if Universal Credit has kicked in on your manor or , is about to.

Try the post code checker for UC :

https://ucpostcode.entitledto.co.uk/ucdate

Ultimately , one for the Carers UK Advice Team ... contact details follow :

Carers UK Adviceline 0808 808 7777

http://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/talk-to-us

Our Adviceline is staffed by experts with extensive experience of dealing with the problems carers face. We provide free and confidential information and advice on:
* benefits and tax credits
* carers employment rights
* carers assessments
* the services available for carers, and how to complain effectively and challenge decisions.

Our freephone number is 0808 808 7777

Note: Our Listening Support Service is available Mondays and Tuesdays. This is a service which provides a space where carers can connect with a trained volunteer who is a carer or former carer to have a chat. The service is available on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10am to 4pm by ringing the same Adviceline number above.

Or you can email us at adviceline@carersuk.org We will try to answer your email as soon as possible but we may not be able to do so on the same day. http://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/talk-to-us

Thanks for including the threads, had a good read. Still no concrete answer Once I know exactly how many hours then hopefully the advice line can confirm. I'm talking myself out of it already

[jenny lucas]

That would be a shame! Studying is SO important on SO many levels. I hate to say this, but ....in a way....'caring' is a dreadful 'waste of our life'. I don't mean that the person we are caring for is a 'waste of our life' but that they NEED care is a 'waste'. ie, when we care for someone all we are doing is 'compensating' for what they cannot, or can no longer, do. ie, we are making good a 'deficit'.

ie, our whole life as a carer is about 'making up for' what someone else cannot do to live their own, independent lives. Caring moves NO ONE 'forward'...neither the carer nor the caree. (It only brings the caree closer to 'base zero' - ie, the starting point of our lives where we look to the future 'ready to go forward' - ie, we are independent and capable of making something of ourselves and the time we have on this earth.)

(In a way, all medical care - ie, doctors and nurses, etc, simply 'get people back to the starting block' - they are 'remediatory' not 'progressive' in their impact on the person they help).

So, for all carers, we are simply 'making good' what the caree can't do for themselves. We don't 'progress' them, or, more importantly in this context, ourselves.

Brutally, you have nothing to show for your time as a carer except that you stopped the caree slipping back further and further. Extremely 'worthwhile' for them....but not for you (apart from proving love, devotion etc - obviously key qualities, but not doing, as I say, anything 'progresive')(ie, towards a better future for humankind, if one wants to be global about it!)

So, if carers can do ANYTHING that IS 'progressive' then I think they should grab it with both hands, however difficult to achieve. It's desperately hard, obviously, simply to find the time to do so, when a carer (if at all...sigh), but studying is definitely one of them! Mainly becauseit can 'fit in between the cracks in caring duties', and so much can be done at home, from home.

I would strongly advocate going to have a word with your course administrator, and see exactly what is entailed in terms of 'counting against you' re CA etc. It could be, for example, that they can tailor the course so that you are only taking modules that keep you 'under' the threshold, etc etc.

Just a point of information request, but does that (ridiculous and INSANELY 'cruel'!) 21 hours threshold (I mean, as if caring weren't bad enough, without stopping carers trying to create some 'me time' for themselves in all their dedication and, of course, in practical terms, getting qualifications that can keep them in employment when/as their caring role stops!), include 'home study'.? Will it include time taken to complete assignments, do your own at home research, library time, etc etc, or is just the 'teaching time'/'contact time' with teaching staff?

Even if this particular course just cannot be shoehorned under the 21 hour threshold, please don't give up on studying altogether. At the very least it 'moves your mind forward' so is progressive in that sense, and of course hopefully will help you raise your educational standards and lead to qualifications that, as I say, will give you a future OF YOUR OWN when and as your caring role ceases.

I do wish you all the very, very best with it -