Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook 2024/25Part 1: Benefits and tax creditsChapter 7: Income support 2. Who is eligible
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2. Who is eligible
As new claims cannot be made, students getting income support (IS) are those who were already on IS before starting the course, and who are eligible for IS as a student. If you cannot get IS, you may be able to get universal credit (UC) instead - eg, if you are a parent (see Chapter 10).
To qualify for IS, you must be in one of the groups eligible to get it and you must satisfy all the basic rules described on here.
Only certain students are eligible for IS, depending on their age and course. To check whether you can get IS, if you are:
    •a full-time student, see here; or
    •studying part time, see here.
Advanced or non-advanced education
‘Non-advanced education’ is anything below degree, Higher National Certificate (HNC) or Higher National Diploma (HND) level, and includes school-level courses. See here for examples of advanced and non-advanced education.
Full-time students
If you are a full-time student, whether in non-advanced or advanced education, you cannot usually get IS during your ‘period of study’, but there are exceptions.1Reg 4ZA(2) IS Regs
Period of study
The ‘period of study’ starts on the first day of the course and ends on the last day of the course – ie, the last day of the final academic year.2Regs 2(1), definition of ‘period of study’, and 61(1), definition of ‘last day of the course’, IS Regs It only ends earlier than this if you abandon your course or are dismissed from it, in which case it ends on the day that happens. You are within your period of study during all vacations and, for sandwich courses, during periods of work placements. In your first year, you do not count as a student at all until you first start attending or undertaking the course.3Reg 61(2)(b) IS Regs So if the course has already begun, you are not excluded from IS as a student until the day you actually start.
Who counts as a full-time student
You count as a ‘full-time student’ if you are ‘attending or undertaking a full-time course of study at an educational establishment’.1Reg 61(1), definition of ‘full-time student’, IS Regs There are two definitions of ‘full time’ that apply: the first covers mostly courses of advanced education; the second covers most courses of non-advanced education.
    •Advanced education. Your course is full time if it is classed as full time by the institution. If the institution describes the course as full time, you need convincing evidence to persuade the DWP otherwise, bearing in mind that what matters is the course itself rather than the hours you attend.2R(SB) 40/83; R(SB) 41/83 This definition covers all courses of advanced education funded, in whole or in part, by the Scottish government, and any courses of non-advanced education that are not wholly or partly funded by the Scottish government at a further education (FE) college.
    •Non-advanced education. Your course is full time if it involves more than 16 hours a week classroom or workshop learning under the direct guidance of teaching staff, or 16 hours or less if your hours are made up of more than 21 hours a week of structured study hours.3Reg 61(1)(c), definition of ‘full-time course of study’, IS Regs What matters is the number of hours specified in a document signed by the college. This is often called a ‘learning agreement’, but your college may refer to it by some other name. This definition applies if you are at an FE college, not undertaking a higher education course and your course is fully or partly funded by the Scottish government. Courses funded by the Scottish government include school qualifications like NQs from Access level to Advanced Higher, SVQs and National Certificates.
 
Sandwich courses
You count as a full-time student if you are on a sandwich course. A ‘sandwich course’ is made up of alternate periods of work experience and full-time study at college or university, where the study periods add up to at least 18 weeks in the year.4Reg 61(1), definition of ‘sandwich course’, IS Regs; reg 4(2) The Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 No.154
Work experience includes periods of employment abroad for modern language students whose course is at least half composed of modern language study.
Initial teacher training courses are not treated as sandwich courses.
 
Modular courses
A ‘modular course’ is one that is made up of two or more modules and you are required to do a certain number to complete the course.5Reg 61(4) IS Regs If you are attending or undertaking part of a modular course that is full time according to the rules described above, you are regarded as being a full-time student for the duration of that module, from the day it begins until the last day of registration on the module (or earlier if you abandon the course or are dismissed from it). This includes all vacations during the module on which you are registered and, except for the final module, the vacation immediately following it. It also includes periods when you are attending the course to do re-sits. If the modular course allows you to undertake some modules on a part-time basis, you are not excluded from IS while you are studying part time.
 
Postgraduates
If you are a postgraduate, the law is not clear on whether you still count as a student during the period at the end of your course when you are writing up your thesis. DWP guidance says someone is ‘not a full-time student during the period after the end of the course when they are expected to complete any course work’.6Vol 6, para 30238 DMG If you are refused IS, consider appealing. You could try arguing that you are no longer attending or undertaking a course.
Who can get income support
You can get IS if you are:1Reg 4ZA(3) IS Regs
    •a lone parent (see here);
    •a single foster parent (see here);
    •a refugee learning English (see here);
    •on a non-advanced course, aged under 22 and without parental support (see here).
Lone parents
To qualify as a lone parent, your youngest child must normally be under age five (you can also qualify if you are under 18, regardless of your youngest child’s age).2Sch 1B para 1 IS Regs; s137 SSCBA 1992 Once your youngest child reaches their fifth birthday, you no longer count as a lone parent and your IS stops.
Example
Julie is studying full time for a degree in law. She is a lone parent with two children aged three and seven. She can continue to get IS as a lone parent while she has a child under five.
You may be required to attend work-focused interviews if your youngest child is aged one to four, and to undertake work-related activity if your youngest child is aged three or four.
Single foster parents
You are eligible if you are a single foster parent with a child under 16. This includes kinship carers who are caring for a ‘looked-after’ child (sometimes referred to as ‘approved kinship carers’).
Example
Emma is studying full time for an HND in social care. She is single and fosters a 13-year-old boy. She can continue to get IS.
Couples
If your partner is not a full-time student or is a part-time student, they are not excluded from IS and can get IS for you as well as for themself whether or not you have a child. They can get IS throughout the year, not just in the long vacation. To be eligible, they must be in one of the groups of people who can get IS listed here.
Refugees
Your English course must be more than 15 hours a week and aimed at helping you get work. You must have refugee status and you must have been in Britain for a year or less when your course starts. Payment of IS is limited to nine months.3Sch 1B para 18 IS Regs This is unlikely to apply to many people as new claims for IS can no longer be made.
Under 22 without parental support
To qualify, you must be on a full-time course of non-advanced education on which you were accepted, enrolled or started before you turned 21.4Sch 1B para 15A IS Regs If you turn 21 on your course, you continue to be eligible. In addition, you must:
    •be an orphan, and no one is acting in place of your parent; or
    •live away from your parents, or anyone acting in their place, because you are estranged from them; or
    •live away from your parents because there is a serious risk or danger to you; or
    •live away from your parents. They must be unable to support you financially and be sick or disabled, in prison or not allowed to enter Britain.
Studying part time
Part-time students can get IS under the usual rules without restriction. You must satisfy all the basic rules (see here) and you must be in one of the groups of people who are eligible for IS. In brief, these are:
    •lone parents under age 18 (regardless of the child’s age) or lone parents with a child under five;
    •some young people up to age 25 on youth training schemes;
    •carers who get carer’s allowance, carer support payment or care for someone who gets attendance allowance, the middle or highest rate of the disability living allowance/child disability payment care component, or the daily living component of personal independence payment/adult disability payment;
    •pregnant women from 11 weeks before to 15 weeks after the birth (or earlier if they are incapable of work because of pregnancy);
    •single foster parents of children under 16 or with a child placed for adoption, or people looking after a child while their partner is abroad or if the parents are temporarily ill, or away temporarily;
    •some people on unpaid paternity or parental leave;
    •people caring for a family member who is temporarily ill;
    •refugees on English courses in their first year in Britain;
    •people entitled to statutory sick pay;
    •people appealing against a decision that they are not incapable of work;
    •people who are incapable of work, but only if they already get incapacity benefit (IB);1Regs 1(4) and 2(1) ESA(TP) Regs
    •people who are registered or certified as blind, but only if they already get IB.
What counts as part time
You are regarded as a part-time student if you are not a full-time student. See here for who counts as full time.
If you are at an FE college studying a non-advanced course such as NQ up to Advanced Higher level, SVQ up to level 3 or National Certificate, the DWP may ask you for a learning agreement to show that the course is part time – ie, no more than 16 classroom hours, or 21 classroom plus structured study hours. Your college can provide you with this.
DWP guidance says that students on Open University courses are part time.1Vol 6, para 30132 DMG
Example
Betty is a carer for her disabled mother and has been getting IS on this basis for two years. She starts studying at college 12 hours a week towards a National Certificate. She continues to be eligible for IS.