Lost my benefits :(

allLuck95

hello,

Since I became a full-time university student last September, the DWP decided I needed a reassessment end of last year and I only got 6 points. 
I applied for a mandatory reconsideration, still only 6 points. 
I worry I don't have the emotional or psychological strength to go through court or similar to get this money that I truly deserve and rely on (despite getting a student loan, this is not enough for me to realistically live off, pay for halls and my course materials, as well as disability & health-related costs). Its honestly left me constantly worry about my low budget and my food intake, I am mostly living off super cheap food either pasta or rice (mostly rice or pasta, a bit of chicken and sauce to be honest. or sandwiches with soft cheese, again the cheapest options). I am constantly hungry. 

I don't know whether to bother going to court over this or just try reapplying... and if I did reapply do I have to apply to my home place or my uni one?

As far as I am concerned, although yes I am a full-time student with the student loan, I still deserve and need this money! 

Any advice or help would be hugely appreciated!!
thank you kind people.

mikehughescq

Your chances of success are around 76% at appeal and you have literally nothing to lose by going for it and everything to gain. Get yourself representation and much of the burden will be lifted from you anyway. Start with student welfare but also look at advicelocal.

poppy123456

Hi,

May i ask what benefit you are talking about?

allLuck95

poppy123456 said:

Hi,

May i ask what benefit you are talking about?

It was ESA and PIP.

I got myself a telephone call appointment with the local Citizens Advice (I got this after chatting to my uni's finance team, sadly they're not equipped with benefits details etc but have links to the nearest citizens advice so hooked me up). Hopefully they'll help me out or at least point me in the right direction. mikehughescq said:

Your chances of success are around 76% at appeal and you have literally nothing to lose by going for it and everything to gain. Get yourself representation and much of the burden will be lifted from you anyway. Start with student welfare but also look at advicelocal.

I tried appealing but still got 6 points, no where near where I feel I should get. I'll definitely get as much help as I can, thank you ☺️ 

poppy123456

For your ESA if you were claiming Income related then any maintenance loan you receive for your student loan will reduce the amount of ESA you're entitled to, even if you were claiming it because it's classed as income when claiming a means tested benefit.

allLuck95

poppy123456 said:

For your ESA if you were claiming Income related then any maintenance loan you receive for your student loan will reduce the amount of ESA you're entitled to, even if you were claiming it because it's classed as income when claiming a means tested benefit.

yeah it was income-related, I did expect to get a reduction but didn't expect to get that and PIP completely stopped.

poppy123456

For your ESA then it will depend how much maintenance loan you're receiving, as it's classed as income for your ESA it could well have meant you weren't entitled to any ESA at all.

PIP isn't means tested and you can claim PIP and the student loan. If you've requested the mandatory reconsideration and still been refused then it's Tribunal for your next step. Start here for the advice/help and support regarding the PIP claim.

https://advicelocal.uk/

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi allLuck95

If it's a PIP decision in which you got 6 points, then it's worth appealing. The mandatory reconsideration stage almost always doesn't change the decision, but at appeal, your chances of success are very high, as Mike has explained. That would be even more so if you get help and advice, so talking to your local CAB is a good idea.

You can reclaim PIP, but that's always a tactical issue, partly as you say considering which address to use, but also, if you reclaim PIP and you are not successful then any appeal result may only go up to the date of your new PIP claim... so you might then end up with a second decision to challenge. You can argue that the DWP should take the appeal result into account and revise your new PIP decision, or it may be that your appeal hasn't been heard by the time your second PIP claim is refused and you can ask for the appeals to be heard together. But as you can see, this is complicated and so I would talk to the CAB about the pros and cons of a new claim.

I think one problem here is that any income-related ESA may have stopped because of the effect of PIP stopping - you can't get income-related ESA as a full time student unless you get PIP or DLA. So it may actually not be only to do with the student income (that would have an effect only if income-related ESA was otherwise payable whilst you are a student).  

This then leads to a further complication: due to the effect of universal credit, you may not be able to reclaim the same type of ESA you were on before, even if you get your PIP back. I think this is just all the more reason to talk to the CAB, not just about your appeal, but about what happens after that.

I'm sure your university's finance/welfare team will have covered this, but are you getting all the student finance you're entitled to, including any disability-related grants?

Will