Universal Credit and trainee teachers

28 April 2023

Universal Credit and trainee teachers

Summary

· DfE and DWP’s joint position is that the primary source of financial help for students is provided through the student finance support system.

· As such, students on full-time higher education courses cannot normally satisfy the entitlement conditions for Universal Credit.

· Only approximately 2% of all HE full-time students will qualify for Universal Credit, but the proportion of trainees that qualify may be higher as they are more likely to be older.

· Full-time students accessing Universal Credit do not need to meet the ‘available for work’ requirement.

· Part-time students can also be eligible for Universal Credit if they are ‘available for work’.

UC eligibility for Full-time trainees

· Students on full-time higher education courses cannot normally satisfy the entitlement conditions for Universal Credit.

· There are a small number of HE full-time students (circa 30,000 out of 1.3 million, or 2%) who are eligible for benefits who may continue to qualify for Universal Credit while they are studying on their higher education course. However, the proportion of trainees that qualify may be higher as they are more likely to be older.

· As far as we’re aware, this group of full-time students are not required to meet the ‘available for work’ requirement.

· Exceptions are only made where students have additional needs that are not met through the student support system. The list of full-time HE students who may qualify for Universal Credit includes those:

o living with their partner and the partner is eligible for UC.

o responsible for a child, either as a single person or as a couple.

o entitled to a qualifying disability benefit such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and were already determined to have limited capability for work before starting a course of education.

UC eligibility for Part-time trainees

· Students may be able to get Universal Credit if available for work and studying part-time.

· Part-time students are not eligible for student finance dependants’ grants (Childcare Grant, Parents' Learning Allowance and Adult Dependants' Grant) so they may wish to consider UC.

UC and student finance dependencies for all trainees

· The system allows students who are eligible for UC to also access the maintenance loan. Overall, they should qualify for more combined UC and maintenance loan support than they would as UC claimants who are not undertaking HE, so it is in their interests to apply for student support.

· If a trainee is accessing both UC and a maintenance loan, DWP will account for this when calculating their UC entitlement, e.g., this may be reduced during term-time. Entitlement to UC will not be reduced during the summer holidays.

· Double funding for childcare costs is not possible - students entitled to the childcare costs element of UC do not qualify for the Childcare Grant.

Further information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students