Housing benefit and Performers

[evie]

Does anyone know if you can get housing benefit if you are 18 and on the pre vocational course at Performers college

[Katymac]

I'm sorry Evie, I have no idea & neither does DD who is on the Pre-voc (but is only 17) - none of her friends have mentioned it

Have you asked the college?

[performmum]

If you are a full-time student, you cannot usually get Housing Benefit. You may be able to get it if you are studying part-time.

However, you may be able to get Housing Benefit as a full-time student if one of the following applies to you:

you are under 21 and not in higher education. Higher education includes degree courses, teacher training, HNC, HND and post graduate courses
you get Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
you get Universal Credit, unless your Universal Credit includes an amount for housing costs
you are a single parent
you are disabled
you and your partner are both full-time students and you have dependent children.
If you are a full-time student but your partner is not, check if your partner could make the Housing Benefit claim instead of you.

Going by these rules I would say yes because the pre Voc meets the first point. Contact Thurrock council they will be able to tell you for sure.

[Barb]

The students on the course at Evolution Foundation College got Housing Benefit from Colchester Council so I would say Performers should be the same.
When I rang the council in August they did not seem to know, despite students the previous year getting it, if current students would be eligible.
However we submitted the form on the day DD moved in, and after several trips to the council offices to show her bank statements, letter from me saying how little we were paying her each month, payslips and P45 from summer job, etc etc she was awarded the maximum amount which is paid to her every four weeks.
A tip she was given (by the lady at the council she had her interview with!) was rather than have us pay a lot of money into her account every month,pay in the smallish amount we said in the letter to the council we were contributing and then let her have a pre paid debit card for food shopping. Tesco deliveries paid for by the "bank of mum and dad" also work well and a cheque at Christmas and on her birthdays was very welcome.
She will finish the course with no savings in her account but fantastic budgeting skills. I think a congratulatory cheque may well be in order

[evie]

Thank you for your replies, I have rung Thurrock council and Performers College and yes, it does appear housing benefit can be claimed if you're on the pre vocational course

[Losingtheplot]

Hi does anyone know if there are conditions to claiming the housing benefit if you on the pre-voc eg are savings taken into consideration etc... In addition to this do you know whether you are exempt from paying council tax if on the pre-voc. thanks in advance.

[performmum]

Losing the plot - I think you have to be in college for at least 30 hours a week for 30 weeks to be council tax exempt. Might be worth phoning Thurrock housing dept to be sure. I don't think savings are taken in to account but you could either phone or e mail to check. Might be worth doing because the debt collectors were chasing students last year and sending post to my DD accommodation for previous students who had fallen foul of the rules. Hope that's useful

[Losingtheplot]

Thanks Performmum I will contact them to check. My DD has secured accomodation but it does not include council tax so if she had to pay that it could make it very expensive. Thanks

[STEFFYSMUM]

if the course is considered full time then you are exempt from council tax.

[Losingtheplot]

Thanks Steffysmum. Performers emailed me today and confirmed that the course is full-time and that all students from Performers are exempt from Council tax.

[lynne]

So, anyone know if 16 year olds doing btec courses are eligible for housing benefit and exempt from council tax? Heres hoping!

[oscar]

The savings and income of the applicant are taken in to consideration . If accepted it will probably mean that your school will not be able to work whilst there unless it's a very small amount .

[oscar]

Word of caution if your child has savings, it is worth checking out how much they are allowed to have and if necessary spend some before applying. If they get housing benefit then they are allowed to Hv a very , very small income . You will be asked to confirm how much financial support you are giving them about £50 a week is about the limit.

[lynne]

Hi
Does anyone know the limit on the savings of the child?