Tax Credits

 
The Tax Credits come in 2 parts; these are Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC), which also has a childcare element.
 
Please Note: You cannot claim both the Childcare Grant from your LEA and the childcare element from the Inland Revenue
 
Students can claim Child Tax Credit if they:
are a lone parent, or are in a couple who have one or more children, or are responsible for at least 1 child who is normally living with you; and have children who are under 16, or under 19 and in full time further education*; and are not subject to immigration control. further education includes GCSEs, AS and A2 levels, Highers, 6th year studies, BTECs and NVQ Level 3 and below.
 
Students are able to claim Working Tax Credit if they:
 
have children and are working 16 hours a week; or have a disability and are working 16 hours a week; or are over 25 and working 30 hours a week; or are 50 or over, have been claiming JSA, IS or IB for at least 6 months, and are now working more than 16 hours a week; and are not subject to immigration control
The student's work must be ongoing and likely to continue for at least 4 weeks from the date of the claim and the income must be low enough to satisfy the means test.
 
Childcare Element of WTC
 
You are not able to claim for childcare costs from both the LEA and WTC. If you are a full time student you will normally be better off claiming from the LEA. For further information, please contact the Advice Unit.
 
Income and Thresholds
 
The majority of student income is fully disregarded in calculating your entitlement to Child Tax Credit. You should only declare your Adult Dependants Grant and Lone Parent Grant (continuing students) on the application form.
 
At the time of editing this webpage, there was no specific section for students to complete on the application form; therefore relevant student income should be noted on 'other'.
 
Disregarded student income includes:
 
Childcare Grants, Career Development Loans paid for tuition fees, any maintenance payments, Dependants Grants, Opportunity Bursaries, NHS Bursaries.
(If you would like to know more about disregarded income, please contact the Advice Unit)
 
Many welfare benefits are also disregarded for the purposes of Tax Credit, these are:
 
Child Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Housing Benefit, Income Support (unless chargeable to tax) Disability Living Allowance, Short term Incapacity Benefit at the lower rate, Income based Job Seekers Allowance, Contribution based Job Seekers Allowance, Maternity Allowance, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Sick Pay, Severe Disablement Allowance.
Other benefits are taken into account as full. This includes Carers' Allowance, long term Incapacity Benefit, Widowed Mother's Allowance and other elements of contribution based JSA.
 
Note: State pensions are treated as pension income and not as social security income.
 
Important Note for Continuing Students
 
Most of you should be in receipt of Child Tax Credits. If you have not yet applied then you should make an application immediately as CTCs have replaced the Dependants Grant for children originally paid by your LEA.

If you need an application form or advice on completing the form, contact the Advice Unit on 01204 900850 or email info@ubsu.org.uk  

 
1 Child         £45.96 per week
 
2 Children   £81.44 per week
 
3 Children   £116.92 per week
 
4 Children   £152.40 per week
 

You will receive extra money if you have a baby under one year of age or a disabled child.
 
If you receive full Child Tax Credit and no Working Tax Credit, you will also be entitled to free school means and free prescriptions.
 

Income Support (IS)

 
As Income Support is now an 'adult only' benefit, the majority of full-time students will not be eligible for IS during the academic year (September - June). This is because of their student funding. However, during the summer you will be entitled to submit a temporary claim.
 

Housing Benefit

Eligible students will remain entitled to claim Housing Benefit for help toward rent (even in University owned accommodation), but like Income Support, student funding and Tax Credits will count as income in calculating entitlement.
 
For individual information contact us at the Advice Unit on 01204 900 850 or email info@ubsu.org.uk
 

Who can apply for Income Support and Housing Benefit?

 
Certain vulnerable groups are eligible to apply for IS and HB, these are:
 
Students in receipt of IS or JSA (for Housing Benefit), part time students, student pensioners aged 60 or more, students who qualify for the disability premium students who have been incapable of work for 28 weeks or more, lone parent students, student couples with dependant children, lone foster parent students who are responsible for a foster child, students who are under 19 and not in higher education, students whose grant includes a Disabled Students Allowance for deafness students with the approval of their institution interrupt their studies either because of illness or caring responsibilities; and have recovered from the illness, or caring responsibilities have ceased; and the University of Bolton will not allow them to rejoin their course until a later date; and are not eligible for a student loan.
 
Please note: full time students who suspend their studies for the following reasons will not be eligible to apply for student support or benefits:
 
financial hardship, failing exams or waiting to re-sit exams, falling through of a work placement personal or academic problems. If you are thinking of suspending your studies for any reason you are strongly advised to contact the Advice Unit first who will establish your entitlement to benefit.
 

Housing Benefit Facts

 
You will be able to claim HB if you are paying rent on a property. You will not be eligible if you live with parents or other close relatives in their home. You can only claim for 'eligible rent'. HB will not cover utility bills, water rates nor will it pay the full amount if your rent is considered excessive. You will also become liable to pay Council Tax but may qualify for CTB.
You may consider applying for both HB and CTB direct from your local authority, as applying through Job Centre Plus can be a lengthy procedure. You will be asked to submit the following evidence with your form:
-         Proof of income
-         Tenancy agreement
-         National Insurance number and evidence of identity such as passport, driving licence.

If students are receiving full Housing Benefit when they initially come to The University of Bolton, they are required under law to inform the Local Authority and Benefits Agency of their student support. Notification is also required under the Income Support rules.

The Housing Benefits Section will require the submission of a new form and the new income details in order to calculate benefit entitlement. This process can be time consuming depending on your Local Authority and in our experience can take months if the student fails to enclose the relevant documents at the time of the application.

During this time students may have had full Housing Benefit or assumed that they will get most of their rent paid and therefore failed to budget for rent payments. This can result in huge amounts of rent arrears and potential eviction proceedings by the landlord.

The housing benefit section is required to recover any overpaid housing benefit from the claimant. This often occurs where the student fails to notify their change of circumstances to the benefits section. They are also entitled to recover money owed from the newly assessed benefit entitlement.

Due to delays in the administration of housing benefit some students have experienced serious rent difficulties. Therefore, we strongly advise students to budget for rent payments at the start of their course. Although the majority of students in vulnerable groups will receive limited help with their rent, the amounts can vary considerably depending on the individual circumstances of the student.

Practical points to remember:
 
Applications for Housing Benefit must be submitted with proof of identity AND National Insurance such as driving licence, passport, bank details, national insurance card, medical card, etc claims for housing benefit start on the Monday after the claim form has been received original documents only must be submitted with the application. A copy of your financial assessment is necessary. Bolton Metro will photocopy your documents and return the originals to you with a receipt of acknowledgment. If any additional documents are required they must be provided within 28 days or the claim WILL lapse. The Local Authority will not contact the claimant to inform them of this. Bolton Metro will take up to two weeks to process claims if provided with full documents If you unsure of why you have been refused Housing Benefit you are entitled to request a written statement of reasons which was introduced in July 2001.  This provides a detailed breakdown of the calculation and decision. Housing Benefit is based on 'eligible rent' if it involves a service charge then this is deducted as the figure is based on the actual rent. For example, if a student occupies a whole two-bedroom house then the calculation will be based on a one bedroom flat. 
 
Seek advice form the Advice Unit for further clarification or guidance on 01204 900850. 
 

Means Tested Benefits

 
All the information given relates to the academic year 2007-2008 only and provides an overview of the treatment of student income and how it is assessed for benefit purposes.
 
 Depending on your circumstances whether or not you are entitled to receive Income Support (IS), Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and/or Housing Benefit (HB) can either be straightforward or very complex.
 
Since 1990 the majority of full time students have not been eligible to claim these benefits during their 'period of study' (see below). However, there remains some groups of
students who are classed as 'vulnerable groups' and therefore eligible to claim benefit. Being eligible does not mean that you are entitled to receive benefit payments. This is because any grant/loan payment, which you are entitled to receive through your LEA, will be taken into account by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
 
This is when the situation can become complex for some students.
 

Treatment of Student Income

 
Periods of Study - IS
 
According to government regulations the DWP will take into account periods of study, which is commonly known as the academic year.
 
The 'academic year' is classed as 12 months beginning on 1st January, April, July or September. Therefore students who begin their courses in August or September will be
treated as starting their course on the 1st September and those starting courses in February will be treated as starting their course on 1st January.
 
Example: 1st year student enrols on a course on 29 September 2007. The relevant period is the 1st September but the actual assessment will be the benefit week leading up to the 29 September as that is when the student is regarded as attending a course. (Continuing students are only allowed a summer claim up to 1st September).However, there is no direct regulation, which clarifies the above so, if your local benefit office assesses your entitlement from the 1st September, then you should contact the Advice Unit as soon as possible on 01204 900850.
 
Notional Income
You must apply for the full amount of student loan you are entitled to which is highlighted in your Financial Assessment. The DWP will assess your full entitlement irrespective of whether you choose to apply for the full
amount or not.
 
Example:
student loan entitlement - £4195 amount applied for - £3000 amount taken into account by IS/HB - £4195
 
Disregarded Income

The DWP will disregard the following student income:
 
Tuition fee costs Childcare grant Disabled student's allowance Parent's learning allowance Any lump sum payments paid from the Access to Learning Fund will be treated as capital and therefore disregarded, but any regular payments will be treated as income and included in the assessment if it is paid for food, fuel, clothing and footwear, rent, council tax or water charges.
 
Disregarded Amounts
For IS and HB purposes the following disregards will be made from the Student Loan:
Travel, books and equipment - £618 £10 additional weekly disregard
 
Assessment of claim
The Student Loan is assessed over 43 weeks and the DWP look at the student's 'applicable amount', which consists of personal allowances, any additional amounts and housing costs. The student's income is deducted from the applicable amount to calculate entitlement.
 
Example:
A student has a student loan of £4195. The following calculation would apply:

Student Loan - £4195
Apply disregards: travel, books and equipment = £618 (2005 rates)
£4195 - £618 = £3577
£3577 / 43 weeks (academic year) = £83.18
Apply £10 weekly disregard:
£83.18 - £10.00 = £73.18
£73.18 is the amount of the student loan that would be deducted from Income Support a week.

The assessment of claim is similar for Housing Benefit purposes.