This section has been specifically written to provide students with information on benefits they may be able to claim. It is only a basic guide intended to point you in the right direction as to what is available. The benefits we cover here include:

Disability Benefits

Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

Incapacity Benefit

Carer's Allowance

Child Benefit

Social Fund payments

Sure Start Maternity Grant

Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment

Free School Meals

Health costs

Disability Benefits

1. Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

• DLA is a tax free benefit paid to those who may need help with personal care or who have walking difficulties because of a physical or mental disability.



• More information about this can be found on the DirectGov website.

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2. Incapacity Benefit (IB)

• Incapacity Benefit is a benefit paid to people who are incapable of work and who have either paid or been credited with sufficient national insurance contributions or who became incapable of work in youth.



• You cannot claim IB if you are under 19 and in full time education (more than 21 hours per week). Any special education or tuition designed for those with a disability is ignored, as are any periods of private study.



• If you are under 25 there are special rules (called the age exception) that may help you get IB without having to satisfy the national insurance contribution conditions.



• The fact that you are studying on either a full time or part time course does not mean that you are automatically capable of work, but it may trigger a review of your benefit. It is therefore important that you should seek advice from a local advice agency on the rules about IB and whether or not you may qualify.



• Further information can be found on the: Job Centre Plus website.

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3. Carer's Allowance

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Child Benefit

• Child benefit is administered by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). It is a non means tested, tax free benefit paid to anyone who is responsible for a child or qualifying young person. You do not need to be the child's parent but you must have responsibility for them.

Who is responsible for a child?

• A person is treated as responsible for a child in any given week if:

  • he or she has the child living with them in that week; or
  • he or she is contributing to the cost of providing for the child at a weekly rate which is not less than the weekly rate of Child Benefit (and the person who the child lives with is not claiming Child Benefit).


• It is possible for more than one person to be eligible for Child Benefit for the same time. In such situations there is an order set out in legislation which governs who receives the Child Benefit when there are two or more people who may be entitled. If this is the case you should seek further advice from a local advice agency.

Residency and Immigration rules

• To claim Child Benefit you must be present and ordinarily resident in the UK. In addition since 1st May 2004 you must satisfy the right to reside test.



• You generally cannot claim Child Benefit if you are subject to immigration control. If you are subject to immigration control or are not sure if you satisfy the residency tests you should seek specialist immigration/benefits advice before applying for Child Benefit or any other benefits.

Who is a child or qualifying young person?

• For Child Benefit purposes a Child counts as anyone aged under 16. In addition child benefit can continued to be paid for a child until the 31st August following their 16th birthday.



• You can also claim Child Benefit for a young person for whom you are responsible and who is aged over 16 and under 20 (see below if they are 19) and in full-time education or approved training.




• To be in full-time education, the young person must:

  • be receiving full-time, non-advanced education;
  • be studying at a recognised educational establishment, i.e. usually a school or college or comparable institution, but they can also be studying elsewhere if the education is recognised by the Secretary of State, Scottish ministers, or the Department for Employment and Learning;
  • not be a course of study that the young person is pursuing because of his or her employment.



• Full-time study means not less than 12 hours a week spent during term-time in tuition, supervised study, exams and practical work. The 12 hours includes gaps between courses, but not meal breaks or periods of unsupervised study.




• Non-advanced education includes:

  • an ordinary national diploma;
  • a national diploma or national certificate of Edexcel;
  • GCSEs;
  • GCE advanced level (AS and A2 levels);
  • Scottish national qualifications at advanced or higher level - any qualifications being above that level (e.g. degree) being designated advanced education.




• Approved training is defined by reference to various training programmes arranged by government. These are:

  • Entry to Employment or Programme Led Pathways in England;
  • Skillbuild, Skillbuild+ or Foundation Modern Apprenticeships in Wales;
  • Get Ready for Work, Skillseekers or Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland;
  • Access or Jobskills Traineeships in Northern Ireland.



• If training is provided to the young person because of their employment, it cannot count as approved training.




• A young person also qualifies if:

  • they are under 18;
  • they have left full-time education or approved training; within 20 weeks of that date they have registered for work or training with the Careers Service, Connexions Service or the Department for Employment and Learning;

  • they have notified HMRC within three months of leaving full-time education or approved training; and during that time they have not engaged in qualifying remunerative work or received income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance.

  
  

  • Qualifying remunerative work in that context means at least 24 hours work a week done for or in expectation of payment; and does not include work done for a charity, as a carer, in pursuance of an Intensive Activity Programme or a sports award, or as a participant in an Employment Zone programme.


Finally, it doesn't matter if a young person's course of full-time education or approved training may be interrupted for up to 6 months because of their illness or disability, to the extent that HMRC consider it reasonable, or for any other cause that they consider to be reasonable.

Who is not eligible?

• There are certain circumstances in which you cannot claim child benefit for a child or qualifying young person. These can be found on the HMRC website.

Further information & how to claim

• Further information about Child Benefit can be found on the HMRC website.




• There are currently three ways to claim:

  • Complete the claim form online;
  • Fill in the claim form which you can download under How to Claim;
  • Complete the form that came with the bounty pack you may have been given.



• More information about what evidence you need to claim and the guidance notes that accompany the claim form are also available here under How to Claim.



• In addition you may be eligible to claim tax credits. More information about Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit are available by clicking on the appropriate link.



• Your student status does not impact upon entitlement to the following benefits and entitlements. However to qualify you must (in most cases) be in receipt of a qualifying benefit, entitlement to which may depend on your student status, working hours and family circumstances.

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Social Fund payments

Sure Start Maternity Grant

What is it?

• A Sure Start maternity grant is a grant of £500 payable from the social fund for each child or expected child. It is intended to help you with the costs of a new born baby. It is paid as a lump sum and you do not have to pay it back.

Who is eligible?

• You may be eligible for a Sure Start maternity grant if you have been awarded:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Job Seeker's Allowance
  • Child Tax Credit paid at a rate which exceeds the family element
  • Working Tax Credit which includes the disability or severe disability element
  • Pension Credit (guarantee or savings credit)



• If you are awaiting a decision on one of these benefits then you should still apply for a maternity grant within the time limits below. If you are in this situation you should seek advice from a local advice agency.




In addition one of the following must apply:

• you or a member of your family are pregnant or have given birth in the last three months;
• you or your partner have adopted a child who is less than 12 months old when you claim a maternity expenses payment;
• you and your spouse have been granted a parental order allowing you to have a child by a surrogate mother.



• There is also a section for your Health visitor to complete on the form.

When do I apply?

• You can claim from 11 weeks before the baby is due and until the baby is three months old.



• If you adopt a baby or have a child by a surrogate mother you can claim up to three months following the date of adoption or parental order.


If you are awaiting a decision on one of these benefits then you should still apply for a maternity grant within the time limits above. If you are in this situation you should seek advice from a local advice agency.

How do I apply?

• You can get a form from your local Job Centre Plus office. Alternatively you can download an application form from the DWP website.

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Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment

What is it?

• A funeral payment is an amount from the social fund which helps you with the essential costs of a funeral which you or your partner are responsible for arranging.



• The amount should be sufficient to cover essential expenses (such as the purchase of a burial plot, necessary cremation fees) plus up to £700 for any other funeral expenses (such as funeral director's fees, religious costs, flowers).



• If you get a funeral payment, it will have to be paid back from the estate of the person who died. The estate means any money, property and other things that the deceased person owned. A house or personal things that are left to a widow or widower will not be counted as part of the estate.

Who is entitled to it?

• You are entitled to a funeral payment if you or your partner have been awarded one of the following on the day you claim a funeral payment:

  • Child Tax Credit paid at a rate which exceeds the family element
  • Working Tax Credit which includes the disability or severe disability element
  • Income Support
  • Income based Job Seeker's Allowance
  • Housing Benefit
  • Council Tax Benefit
  • Pension Credit (Guarantee or savings credit)

• You can claim any time from the date of death up to three months after the date of the funeral. There is no provision for late claims.



• If you are awaiting a decision on one of the qualifying benefits above you should still apply for the funeral payment within these time limits. It is advisable that you seek advice from a local advice agency if you are in this situation.

How do I apply?

• You should claim using form SF200 which you can get from your local Job Centre Plus office or you can download a form and guidance here.

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Free School Meals

• Your child will be entitled to free school meals if you receive: Child Tax Credit only and your annual taxable income is £15,575 or less (you should find this information on your award notice) and You do not receive Working Tax Credit (WTC).



• You can find out more about free school meals by contacting your Local Education Authority or you can find information online here.

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Health Costs

What is it?

• The NHS normally provides free healthcare. There are however fixed charges for some services such as dental treatment, sight tests, glasses, wigs and fabric support and prescriptions.



• If you fall into one of the categories below you will get free prescriptions, free dental treatment, free sight tests, vouchers for glasses or contact lenses, full help with your fares to attend a hospital or any other establishment for NHS Treatment or services.

Who is entitled to help with health costs?

• You will be exempt from these charges if:

  • you receive Child Tax Credit and your gross annual income used to calculate your tax credit award is no more than £15,050 or;
  • you receive Working Tax Credit including a disability or severe disability element and your gross annual income used to calculated your tax credit award is no more than £15,050 per annum;
  • you, or a member of your family, are receiving Income Support, Income-based Job Seeker's Allowance or the guarantee credit element of Pension Credit.

How do I apply?

• If you are exempt due to your entitlement to tax credits HMRC will inform the Prescription Pricing Authority. They will then send you an exemption card which is normally valid until the end of the tax year.



• You can also use your Tax Credit Award Notice (TCAN) as proof of entitlement.



• If you have not yet received an exemption certificate or you are not sure whether you meet the income levels you can contact the tax credits helpline on 0845 300 3900 (textphone 0845 300 3909 ) - open from 8am - 8pm seven days a week.



• If you do not qualify for exemption from these charges because you do not meet any of the criteria above you may still be able to qualify for some help under the Low Income Scheme. To apply for this scheme you should complete form HC1 which is available from DWP offices, Post Offices and most hospitals or doctors.

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