Housing benefit for full time student

forgoodnesssake

Does anyone have any experience of claiming housing benefit as a full-time student living in rented accommodation not in home area?  My son gets enhanced PiP and will be claiming ESA.  Does housing benefit affect his social care needs assessment (ie is it taken into account when he is financially assessed?)  Thank you

Geo08

Can you claim ESA while you are a full time student? Haven't heard of that one before.

However as a student, the answer is yes, if you have a disability that impacts you to the point where you get the other benefits you mentioned then you can claim for housing benefit. 

In terms of the income calculation, a student load is very unlikely to take you over the minimum weekly income for them to start charging you. They do take PIP into account and any money your son has over £6000.

In terms of the social care one, for those who are still of working age (students over 18 included) have their calculation made on the basis of their 'earnings' which is basically a wage or any other income related to assets (from what I can gather). It may take into account benefits but I cannot recall, but basically you're unlikely to pay anything or have any reductions.

On a side note

Do you mind letting me know how you get on with hiring people / getting the uni to adapt stuff - I'm not really sure about the level of need but enhanced pip indicates a need for personal care? Also what adaptations are needed to the uni halls (if you're son is going to live away from home?) for example, do you need a hoist?

Debbie_Alumni

Hi @forgoodnesssake,

Here's a link to some really helpful information from Turn2us about full time students and benefits. Hopefully it will provide the answers you need. 
https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Full-time-students-and-benefits/Who-is-a-full-time-student-for-benefit-purposes

You can also get some help from the Disabled Students Helpline run by Disability Rights UK http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/how-we-can-help/helplines/disabled-students-helpline.

You can of course also speak to us at the helpline too

Best wishes
Debbie

BenefitsTrainingCo

Dear forgoodnesssake,

This all looks like good advice. Full-time students on PIP can definitely get income-related ESA but as people have explained, it does depend on the amount of student income including a student loan.

The disabled students helpline Debbie mentions will be able to do the calculations for you if you know what student income your son will get. Even if your son can't get income-related ESA due to student income, he might still get some housing benefit.

Will