Students and benefits eBulletin - June 2024

Student and benefits e-bulletin: online training, students and carer support payment, and more.

Hello and welcome to the June 2024 edition of CPAG in Scotland's students and benefits e-bulletin, keeping you up-to-date with changes to benefits and tax credits which are relevant to students.

In this issue:

Students and benefits online training courses

We are delivering two training courses via Zoom on benefits for students in the next few months. These are:

  • Universal credit and students course on 8 & 9 October 2024 (two half-days). This standard  level course will give you a good overview of the rules regarding student eligibility for universal credit, including the impact of Scottish student funding. It will also cover information about managed migration to universal credit in Scotland. 
  • Student and benefits – an update on 21 November 2024 (half-day). This course is aimed at experienced advisers, to provide an essential annual update on changes in the benefits system which might affect students. It will cover updates on universal credit for students, including managed migration to universal credit and the special rules for students; student support and its impact on benefits and tax credits; and other changes in legislation, caselaw and Scottish benefits.

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. Consideration can also be given to in-person training requests in-house, if that suits you better. See here for the available courses.

Students and carer support payment

Carer support payment is a new Scottish benefit, replacing carer’s allowance. Many of the rules are the same as carer’s allowance, but there are some differences, especially for students.

The rollout dates for new claims are:

  • 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

From the dates above, anyone in those areas who does not currently get carer’s allowance, and meets the rules for carer support payment, can apply. Applications for carer’s allowance can no longer be made in those areas from these dates.

Transfers to carer support payment, for those who do already get carer’s allowance, began in February 2024, and should be complete by spring 2025. Transfer is automatic and there is no application for carer support payment needed. It will take around 13 to 17 weeks. You will get a goodbye letter from DWP, and a welcome letter from Social Security Scotland (SSS). Once you’re transferred, if you get any other benefits you should tell the DWP, HMRC and/or the local authority, as applicable, about your award, to ensure that any extra amounts continue to be paid.

The rules for carer support payment are similar to those for carer’s allowance. It is not means-tested – although there is an earnings limit. It is administered and paid by SSS. You can claim if you provide regular and substantial care for a person who is in receipt of a qualifying disability benefit (the daily living component of adult disability payment (ADP) or personal independence payment (PIP), disability living allowance (DLA) or child disability payment (CDP) care component at the middle or highest rate, attendance allowance or certain armed forces disability payments). You must not be ‘gainfully employed’ (ie, not earning more than £151pw after subtracting tax, National Insurance and certain other deductions).

You must not be entitled to the carer element of universal credit in respect of a different cared-for person, carer’s allowance or a young carer grant.

Applications can be made in a variety of ways. Find out more about how to apply for carer support payment.

Carer support payment is £81.90 per week from April 2024. In addition, carers in Scotland who get carer support payment are entitled to a carer’s allowance supplement paid twice per year in a lump sum (£288.60 twice a year in 2024).

Most full-time student carers are eligible for carer support payment. (Note: full-time students are not eligible for carer’s allowance.) You are eligible if you are:

  • a part-time student 
  • a full-time student aged 20 or over;
  • a full-time advanced / higher education student under 20 (ie, on an HNC course or above)

Students aged 16-19 on a non-advanced / further education course of ‘full-time education’ (more than 21 hours per week), or on approved training (ie, ‘No one left behind’ provision) are not usually eligible for carer support payment.

However, a new exception allows 16-19-year-old carers in full-time further education to get carer support if they would be eligible for universal credit. This applies from 23 June 2024, and if you:

  • do not have parental support – ie, are estranged, orphaned or similar; or
  • are entitled to DLA, CDP, ADP or PIP, and before you started your studies you had been assessed as having, or were treated as having, limited capability for work or limited capability for work and work-related activity for universal credit or employment and support allowance; or
  • are responsible for a child; or
  • are single and a foster parent of a child; or
  • are a member of a couple and the other person is either not a student, or they’re a student but meet one of the above conditions.

There are special backdating rules for students who are eligible for carer support payment. You might be able to backdate your claim quite far – potentially back as far as 19 November 2023 – but there are time limits for doing this. For more detail see CPAG in Scotland’s NEW factsheet: Students and carer support payment.

If you’re an adviser, you can also phone or e-mail our advice line for advice about anyone you’re working with (see below).

Carer support payment is introduced by the Carer's Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (as amended, most recently by the Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2024).

Universal credit managed migration

Managed migration to universal credit (UC) extended to some parts of Scotland in Autumn 2023, and by early 2024 was rolled out to all areas. Those only on child tax credit (CTC) and/or working tax credit (WTC) were first to move, and their migration is expected to be completed this year. Now people on other legacy benefits, such as income support and housing benefit, or tax credits together with other legacy benefits, are being migrated (in 2024/25).

Full-time students on legacy benefits who migrate to UC under managed migration are eligible for UC, even if they do not fall within one of the usual groups of student who can get UC.

For example, a single student in low paid work and on WTC wouldn’t usually get UC, but can get UC if they migrate via managed migration to UC while on a course.

The amount awarded after migration should be pretty much identical to the amount they were previously getting from the benefits that are being replaced (unless there's been a change in circumstances). An extra transitional element is included in UC in such cases. This additional element erodes over time as the UC maximum amount increases (eg, if UC rates increase), and is lost altogether in certain circumstances (eg, if you form a couple or separate).

The transitional element is calculated after any student income is taken into account for UC. Therefore, it is often better financially for students to migrate to UC while they have student income taken into account – ie, not during the summer vacation between years of a course. Your UC will often be higher if you do this. This does depend on individual circumstances though, so seek advice.

CPAG in Scotland's advice line for advisers can advise on such cases, particularly where someone is going to shortly become a student, meaning advice about the timing of a claim for UC may be particularly important. We can also check whether the correct transitional element has been added, as we are coming across some cases where this is calculated incorrectly by DWP.

Phone CPAG in Scotland's advice line (for advisers and frontline staff) on 0141 552 0552. The advice line is available Monday –Thursday 10am – 4pm and Fridays 10am - 12 noon. Or email enquiries to [email protected]