Students and benefits eBulletin - December 2024

Students and benefits online training courses, students and carer support payment plus universal credit managed migration

Hello and welcome to the December 2024 edition of CPAG in Scotland's students and benefits e-bulletin for advisers, keeping you up-to-date with changes to benefits and tax credits which are relevant to students. Read about students and benefits online training courses, students and carer support payment plus universal credit managed migration.

Online training courses

We are delivering a training course via Zoom on benefits for students early in the new year. This is:

Students and benefits – eligibility

4 & 5 February 2025 (two half-days)

This course will cover all the main benefits that students might be able to get, and in what circumstances they can get them. It will cover universal credit, housing benefit, ESA and devolved benefits such as the new carer support payment. It will also cover migration to UC from legacy benefits, and how student funding interacts with benefits. This is a standard level course for people with some knowledge of the benefits system.

'Inhouse' training

Remember, we can also deliver online training via Zoom for you and your colleagues ‘inhouse’ – ie, to up to 15 staff members from your organisation/partner organisations. We can also consider in-person training requests in-house, if that suits you better. See available courses.

Students and carer support payment – final deadline is soon!

The final rollout date for new claims for carer support payment (CSP) was on 4 November 2024 (see below for all the dates of rollouts over the past year).

If you live in an area where CSP rolled out on 4 November 2024, and you are a full-time student carer who is eligible for CSP, you have until 2 February 2025 to make a claim and get extra backdating (later claims may be possible if you can show good reason for claiming late).

The rules say that a student carer may be able to get backdating as far back as 19 November 2023, when CSP was first introduced. This means that students don't miss out because of their postcodes - because CSP was introduced back in November 2023, but people in Glasgow, Edinburgh and many other local authorities were not able to claim until recently.

You are eligible for backdating if you are an eligible full-time student now, and have met all the conditions for CSP for a past period. Social Security Scotland advise that it is best to claim by phone. If the phone operator does not agree that you can get backdating for more than 13 weeks you should persevere with your claim. If, when it is awarded, you don't get the full backdating you expected, you should ask for a redetermination. You can refer Social Security Scotland staff to their guidance here (click on the drop-down menu that covers the local authority you live in to see the relevant information).

Example

Danny is a full-time student carer in second year at university, living in Glasgow. His carer’s allowance stopped when he started his course in September 2023. He has continued to provide at least 35 hours of care per week. He should claim CSP before 2 February 2025, and ask for backdating to 19 November 2023, because he met the conditions throughout that whole period.

CSP rollout dates

  • 20 November 2023 Perth and Kinross, Dundee and the Western Isles (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar)
  • 24 June 2024 Angus, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire
  • 19 August 2024 Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, East Ayrshire, Fife, Moray, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire
  • 4 November 2024 Edinburgh, Glasgow and the rest of Scotland

For more detail see CPAG in Scotland’s Students and carer support payment factsheet.

See also the June students and benefits e-bulletin for more information on carer support payment, especially the rules for 16-19 year old carers in further education.

Our next training course on carer support payment is on Wednesday 12th March 2025. It’s a half day online course.

Universal credit - managed migration

Managed migration of people who are still getting ‘legacy benefits’ - tax credits, income support, income-related employment and support allowance, income-based JSA and housing benefit (HB) (apart from HB for people in supported or temporary accommodation, or who are pension age) is continuing apace. DWP say that everyone on tax credits will be migrated by the beginning of April 2025.

It's important to apply for universal credit (UC) by the deadline on your managed migration notice. If you don't, your legacy benefits will stop. Your only other option is to ask for an extension or a cancellation of the migration notice, but these are not guaranteed and are harder to get as it gets closer to the date when DWP wants people to have transferred to UC.

Assuming all other things remain equal, no-one should be worse off when they migrate to UC under managed migration. If someone is worse off, and there's no obvious reason (an obvious reason might be that they have had a change in their earnings, or in their household composition), then it's a good idea to seek advice to make sure that the transitional protection has been calculated correctly.

Special rules apply to students if they claim UC through the managed migration process while on a course. The rule says they are eligible for UC even if they would not normally be eligible while they are a student. An example might be someone who has been getting help with their rent through HB, and who gets a disability benefit, such as PIP or ADP. They wouldn't normally be eligible for UC while studying, but if they manage migrate while on their course then they would be eligible for UC. This is due to regulation 60 of the UC (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014.

Seeking advice?

Students needing advice should contact their local Citizens Advice Bureau or other advice agency - find your local CAB.

Advisers supporting students can contact CPAG in Scotland's advice line for advisers on 0141 552 0552. The advice line is available Monday –Thursday 10am – 4pm and Fridays 10am - 12 noon. Or email enquiries to [email protected]