Students are being 'robbed' by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)!

University students with young children like myself and many others across the UK, who find themselves in need of government financial support (in combination with a maintenance loan received from student finance), so that they can adequately provide for themselves and their families for the duration of their studies, are being unfairly discriminated. 

The corrupt assessment system means student parents are receiving up to 50% less support from Universal Credit than working parents. This is because claims of Universal Credit by eligible students, are reduced by a shocking rate of £1 for every £1 they receive in maintenance loan above £110 per month. Whereas the claims of Universal Credit by eligible low-income working parents, are reduced by ‘only’ 63p (soon to reduce to 55p) for every £1 they receive in earnings above £293 per month. 

Not only are working parents allowed to earn £183 more than student parents each month before having their support reduced, they are also allowed to keep 37% (soon to be 45%) more of their benefits each month for every £1 earned above this threshold. 

I fully appreciate that Universal Credit is a difficult system to navigate, even for those with personal experience so I have provided an example of how this looks in the real world.

Scenario 1: Lone student parent receives the equivalent of £1,000 via maintenance loan a month

= £890 reduction of Universal Credit support

Scenario 2: Lone working parent earns £1,000 after tax & National Insurance a month

= £445.41 reduction of Universal Credit support 

Students claiming Universal Credit with an income equivalent to my example are having their monthly ‘benefits’ reduced by 50% MORE than someone with the SAME income from employment? The fact that DWP see nothing wrong with this is scandalous!

When did £1 stop being equal to £1 just because of the way it ended up in a persons pocket? 

If DWP are going to insist on classing a loan as income then the VERY LEAST they could do and what I hope to achieve through this petition is for students income to be assessed in the same way that it would be if the money was earned instead of loaned. This would mean student parents current monthly support would rise by up to a staggering 50%. Though I would like to add that I find it ridiculous that money that will have to be paid back could be classed as any form of income in the first place!

If I have convinced you enough already that these discriminatory rules must change, please sign today and share far and wide!

REMEMBER to check your emails afterwards for a confirmation message or your signature won't count!

If you still need further convincing or are interested in my personal story, please read on.

My Story

This year I made the choice to come out of employment in order to go back to university to pursue my dream of becoming a Primary School Teacher. What I didn’t realise is that I was putting myself - and my five year old child - into severe financial hardship, with the payments from Universal Credit which I had previously relied on being slashed since I am now a student. I had no idea that my student ‘income’ (which I would like to point out is a loan and will one day need to be paid back), is this time being counted differently under Universal Credit. 

I did my undergraduate degree as a single parent whilst receiving student finance under the old style benefits system. While I wasn’t ‘well off’, I was able to meet mine and my daughters basic needs plus a little extra sometimes. When I went to work last year this triggered a change in circumstances so I was then moved over to Universal Credit. Apart from the 5 week wait for my first payment, I had found Universal Credit to be quite fair. Since I was on a low income I still received a fair amount of support which I was content with.

I feel as though I am now being penalised for being a student! I am now receiving far less financial support from Universal Credit. 

Financial difficulty is soul destroying. How are students supposed to be focused and have their head fully in the game in order to succeed? I choose to go back into education in order to secure a stable financial future for my daughter and myself but have instead struggled with a financial system which seems designed to stop me achieving these goals.

We need to make the way student income is assessed fairer. If they had calculated my earnings the same way in which they did when I was working I would actually be receiving more financial support this year from Universal Credit, not less!

Help me to make a change - not just for my family but for everyone who may also be struggling right now in this same situation. I urge you to please spare a moment of your time to sign this and hopefully you can be part of a change that will transform people's lives, especially student parents.

Kind regards,

Lindsey Smith

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