Disabled Student Capability for work

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TracyK
TracyK Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
in Universal Credit (UC)
Hello, I am looking for advice please, I have recently applied for UC on behalf of a disabled 20 year old student, I have been advised by his support worker to ask for a Work Capability Assessment due to the claimant being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, is  anyone else in a similar position?

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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    edited August 2020
    HI and welcome,

    Full time Students can only claim for UC under certain circumstances.

    Universal Credit if you’re studying full-time

    You may be able to get Universal Credit if you’re studying full-time and any of the following apply:

    • you’re aged 21 or under, in full-time non-advanced education and do not have parental support
    • you’re responsible for a child
    • you live with your partner and they’re eligible for Universal Credit
    • you’ve reached the qualifying age for Pension Credit and live with a partner who is under that age
    • you’re disabled and have limited capability for work and are getting:
      • Personal Independence Payment
      • Disability Living Allowance
      • Attendance Allowance
      • Armed Forces Independence Payment
    The above was taken from this link here. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students

    Does he live with parents or alone and does he claim either PIP or DLA? Does he also receive any student loan or is their a student loan available for him to take?

    If he lives at home with parents then he needs to be assessed as having limited capability for work and claim a disability benefit, otherwise he won't be able to claim.

    If you can confirm who he's living with then i'll advise you further.


  • Cher_Alumni
    Cher_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,714 Championing
    edited August 2020
    Hi @TracyK and a big welcome to our online community.  I am glad you found us and I hope @poppy123456's marvellous benefits advice can help clear things up for you.
  • TracyK
    TracyK Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Thank you Very much I look forward to being a part of the Scope community 
  • TracyK
    TracyK Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Thank you for your advice, yes he lives at home with parents, he doesn’t have a student loan but qualifies for free meals due to being a low income family, he gets PIP at the enhanced rate for care and mobility, he was awarded UC recently, as his appointee I have recently spoken to his work coach whereby I asked if he should have a work capability assessment I am waiting for a reply but wanted some advice beforehand as I believe in the past he would have qualified for ESA and would have been in the “support” group? He is on the higher end of the spectrum educationally but requires a high level of support with daily living, cannot go out alone or travel independently and requires 1-1 support at college his work coach said he is in the 18-24 age group he must look for work! 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    edited August 2020
    I'm very surprised that he's actually claiming UC because in his circumstances he's no able to claim it unless he's already been assessed as having limited capability for work, which he hasn't been.

    You said you've recently applied for it for him, has he had his first payment? Do they knows he's a full time student? Claiming PIP doesn't automatically entitle him to Limited capability for work.

    See the most recent legislation for this here. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/827/made

    Fot notes are needed for the work capability assessment to be started but i'm still very confused how he's claiming UC to start with as he's living at home with parents.

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    I'm also confused regarding the free school meals. These are for children and he's no longer a dependant child, he's an adult in his own right. See link https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

    Has his parents recently stopped claiming child benefit for him because of his age? This will most likely be why they were claiming the free school meals but as he's now 20 they won't qualify for this.


  • TracyK
    TracyK Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Yes the parents were getting Child tax credit / child benefit until June due to the student being from a low income family the college said she was eligible for free college meals but the parents provided her own lunch, I contacted DWP on the parents / students behalf to see if they could offer any financial support and I was advised to apply for UC the student received the first payment 5 weeks later I am not sure if claiming PIP has any relevance to the outcome of the UC decision 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    Thanks for that information. The reason he was able to claim for UC in his own right was because of summer holidays. Once he starts back at college in September then he will need to report the changes and then his payments will very likely stop because students can't claim UC unless they have already been assessed as having limited capability for work, as stated in the link i provided above and they will need to report the changes on his journal once he starts back college.

    A claim for New style ESA for the NI credits only is possible until he's assessed and a decision made on the work capability assessment is made. If he's given limited capability for work then he will be able to reclaim UC.

    The free school meals will also end because of his age.
  • TracyK
    TracyK Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Thank you I will pass on the information to the parents 
  • Chloe_Alumni
    Chloe_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 10,506 Championing
    Hi @TracyK, just wanted to check in to see if there is anything else we can do to help. :)

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