I'd like to thank you all again for signing my petition, please do keep sharing! I am touched by some of your reasons for signing, especially those who are currently experiencing the same hardship as me. I will continue to do all I can to keep spreading the word to make a change, but I can't do that without your help. 

Today I contacted my local MP (see message below) with the support of my campaigns advisor. Hopefully he will agree to support us. I will be sure to keep you updated. 

Dear Keir Starmer,

I am a constituent of yours who has recently started this petition to 'change the way universal credit assess student income' which can be accessed by the following link; https://chng.it/tWJ8N7THcZ 

I started this petition after I found myself experiencing severe financial hardship when returning to university this September, after Universal Credit dramatically reduced the amount of support I am receiving from them. I know I won't be alone in this so want to try and make a change for all student parents currently faced, and who may find themselves in the future, in this position.

The whole idea behind why parents choose to enter back into education is so that they can secure greater financial stability for themselves and for their family, but whilst doing so are being forced to live with overwhelming financial hardship due to the new rules posed by universal credit, which varies greatly from the old style legacy benefits, which I know from my own personal experience.

Being a lone parent to a five year old daughter, whose dad sadly passed away in April this year, I currently feel the weight of the world on my shoulders as my child's only financial provider. Despite our grief I made the brave choice to leave my job as a teaching assistant in order to return to university to become a qualified primary school teacher. Whilst following my dream of teaching I am also securing a financially stable future for me and my daughter and in the foreseeable future will be able to live comfortably without needing any support from Universal Credit, which leads me to two questions; Isn't this the governments aim? Then why make it harder for parents to re-enter education? You can read more about my story by clicking on the link to my petition inserted above.

I started this petition on change.org on the 12th of October (just 9 days ago) and have been completely overwhelmed by how much support I have received in such a short space of time.

As of earlier today my petition has over 5,500 signatures.

Will you support my campaign and raise this issue with Government Ministers? You could either write to the minister or ask a oral or written question in Parliament?

I would highly value your support, as my local MP, in this matter and would be happy to publicise your support to everyone who has signed this petition.

Let me know if you would like to discuss this further or had additional ideas about how to push this campaign to victory.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Lindsey Smith