Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook 2024/25Part 1: Benefits and tax creditsChapter 10: Universal credit 2. Who is eligible
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2. Who is eligible
Students
To qualify for universal credit (UC), you must satisfy all the basic rules described on here. Most students cannot claim UC, although there are some exceptions (see here). For UC, a student is referred to as someone ‘receiving education’.
Receiving education
You are ‘receiving education’ if you are:1Reg 12 UC Regs
    •a qualifying young person. This applies if you are in, enrolled on or accepted for non-advanced education of at least 12 hours a week, or approved training, and have not yet reached 31 August after your 19th birthday. If you are 19 you must have started, been enrolled on or accepted on the course before you turned 19. You are also a qualifying young person until 31 August following your 16th birthday, even if you have left education;
    •undertaking a full-time course of advanced education (see below);2paras H6031 and H6047 ADM
    •on another full-time course for which a loan, grant or bursary is provided for your maintenance;
    •(if none of the above three bullets apply) on a course that is not compatible with your ’work-related requirements’ – ie, what you are expected to do in terms of looking for work.
A course of advanced education is one above the level of National Qualifications at Higher or Advanced Higher level, including Higher National Diploma (HND), degree and postgraduate courses. It is full time if it is classed as full time by the institution, unless this is not clear, or the person has exemptions from parts of the course.3BK v SSWP [2022] UKUT 73 (AAC)
Non-advanced courses
Advanced courses
National Qualifications (NQ) Nationals 1 to 5
HNC
NQ Higher or Advanced Higher
HND
Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) levels 1–3
SVQ level 4 or 5
National Progression Awards
Degree level
National Certificate
Postgraduate
Scottish Wider Access Programme
Open University courses are not classed as full time, but they are courses of study, so regard must be had as to whether they are compatible with work-related requirements.4para H6087 ADM
You are ‘undertaking a course’ from the day you start the course until the last day of the course (or an earlier date when you abandon or are dismissed from the course).5Reg 13(1) UC Regs
 
1     Reg 12 UC Regs »
2     paras H6031 and H6047 ADM »
3     BK v SSWP [2022] UKUT 73 (AAC) »
4     para H6087 ADM  »
5     Reg 13(1) UC Regs »
Modular courses
A modular course is one that has two or more modules, and you are required to successfully complete a specified number of modules to have completed the course. If you are undertaking a part of a modular course, you count as undertaking the course from the day on which that part of the course starts until the last day on which you are registered as undertaking that part (or an earlier date if you abandon or are dismissed from the course).
You are also undertaking a modular course during any period in which you undertake the course to retake failed exams or complete a module that you have failed to successfully complete, as well as any holidays, unless the holiday follows the last day of the final module.1Reg 13(1)(b), (2) and (3) UC Regs
 
1     Reg 13(1)(b), (2) and (3) UC Regs »
Who can claim universal credit
If you do not count as receiving education, you can claim UC in the same way as anyone else.
If you count as receiving education, you are only eligible for UC if you:1Regs 3(2)(b), 13(4) and 14 UC Regs
    •are responsible for a child or young person - ie, they normally live with you. If you and your ex-partner share the care of a child, only one of you can count as responsible; or
    •are under 22 on a non-advanced course, you were under 21 when you started the course, and you are ’without parental support’ (see below); or
    •have limited capability for work and also get disability living allowance (DLA), personal independence payment (PIP) or adult disability payment (ADP). You must have had a determination that you have ‘limited capability for work’ (LCW) or ‘limited capability for work-related activity’ (LCWRA) before you started ‘receiving education’. This means a determination that you have LCW/LCWRA for UC or (new-style) contributory employment and support allowance (ESA), or that you are treated as having LCW/LCWRA for UC. You can claim (new-style) contributory ESA in order to be assessed for LCW/LCWRA (although you do not have to get any ESA to qualify in this way). Once you are found to have LCW/LCWRA for ESA (and you also get PIP/ADP or DLA), you are then eligible for UC as long as you had, or were treated as having, LCW/LCWRA before you started receiving education – ie, you cannot claim UC if you have already started your course by the time LCW/LCWRA is assessed. Note: you count as receiving education while you are a qualifying young person, so even if you have LCW/LCWRA through a (new-style) contributory ESA assessment, you would have to have a period where you are no longer a qualifying young person in order to be eligible for UC; or
    •are a single foster parent (this includes kinship carers with whom a child is placed under the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009); or
    •are a member of a student couple and one of you is a foster parent (this includes kinship carers with whom a child is placed under the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009); or
    •are over pension age and your partner has not yet reached that age; or
    •are making a joint claim with your partner who is not a student, or who is a student but would be eligible for UC themself while studying; or
    •have taken time out because of illness or caring responsibilities, you have now recovered or your caring responsibilities have ended, and you are not eligible for a grant or loan.
If you are in one of the above groups and have a partner who is also a student, you can make a joint claim for UC with them, even if they are not in one of these groups.2Reg 3(2)(b) UC Regs
Without parental support
‘Without parental support’ means you:3Reg 8(3) UC Regs
    •are an orphan; or
    •cannot live with your parents because you are estranged from them, or because there is a serious risk to your physical or mental health, or you would face significant harm if you lived with them; or
    •are living away from your parents, and they cannot support you financially because they are ill or disabled, in prison or not allowed to enter Great Britain.
‘Parent’ includes any person acting in place of a parent. The person must be broadly acting in the way a parent would.4NP v SSWP [2009] UKUT 243 (AAC)
You are estranged if you are ‘alienated in feeling or affection’ from your parents. The young person’s statement about the estrangement should be believed unless it is ‘self-contradictory or improbable’, and third-party evidence is not required.5paras E1051 and E1052 ADM
Note: if you are aged 16 or 17 and receiving education, you can only claim UC if you are covered by one of the first three bullet points above – ie, you have a child, you are without parental support and in non-advanced education, or you are ill or disabled. If you are a 16/17-year-old care leaver and are receiving education, you can only claim if you have a child or are ill or disabled, and you cannot get help with housing costs.6Reg 8 and Sch 4 para 4 UC Regs
Examples
Annie is 18 and on UC. She starts a full-time course of non-advanced education. She is estranged from her parents. She is still eligible for UC.
Lewis is on UC. He moves in with his partner Liz, who is on a full-time, advanced course and has a three-year-old child. They are eligible for UC.
Pauline is 23 and is on UC. She starts a part-time, non-advanced course in January 2024. The DWP decides that her course is not compatible with her work-related requirements, so she counts as ‘receiving education’. She is single and not disabled. She is not eligible for UC while she is on her course.
Karen is on UC. She moves in with her partner, Jake, who is unemployed. Karen starts a full-time, advanced course. They are still eligible for UC.
 
1     Regs 3(2)(b), 13(4) and 14 UC Regs »
2     Reg 3(2)(b) UC Regs »
3     Reg 8(3) UC Regs »
4     NP v SSWP [2009] UKUT 243 (AAC) »
5     paras E1051 and E1052 ADM »
6     Reg 8 and Sch 4 para 4 UC Regs »
Work-related requirements
Even if you are a student who can claim UC, you may have to meet certain ’work-related requirements’ in order to get UC. These are set out in a ‘claimant commitment’, drawn up by your work coach at the job centre. If it is not possible to do so while on your course, you may be given a sanction and your UC may be reduced. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook (for subscribers) for more information about work-related requirements and sanctions.
There are no work-related requirements if you are receiving education and you are:1Reg 89 UC Regs
    •under 22 (and were under 21 when you started your course), in non-advanced education and have no parental support; or
    •eligible for UC as a student (unless you are eligible after having taken time out because of illness or caring responsibilities) and you get a student loan for maintenance, or a maintenance grant that is taken into account for UC. This only applies during the period of the year in which your student income is taken into account. Normally, this is over the academic year (see Chapter 15). Over the summer vacation you may be subject to work-related requirements.
If you are not exempt from work-related requirements under the rules above and not exempt for any other reason (eg, because you have a child under one or you are severely disabled), you must meet your work-related requirements, otherwise you can be sanctioned. This means that your UC is reduced by the level of your standard allowance (see here). You may be able to challenge a sanction. If you are given a sanction, get advice as soon as possible.
Examples
Sukhi is a full-time further education student. She gets a bursary maintenance allowance. She has a 12-year-old daughter. She claims UC. Because she gets a student grant for maintenance, no work-related requirements apply.
Sean, a lone parent with one child aged eight, is studying a full-time two-year HND course. He claims UC and has no work-related requirements applied because he gets a student loan. His long vacation starts on 7 June 2025. For the assessment period that includes 7 June and the next two assessment periods, which are wholly within his summer vacation, he is subject to work-related requirements. If Sean cannot meet these requirements, he may be sanctioned and his UC reduced.
 
1     Reg 89 UC Regs »