Special support grant
The special support grant is available to full-time students entitled to claim means-tested benefits who are regarded as particularly vulnerable.
1Regs 59 and 60 E(SS)(NI) RegsMost full-time students are not entitled to means-tested benefits. However, you may be entitled if, for example, you are a lone parent, or you and your partner are both full-time students and have one or more children, or you receive disability living allowance or personal independence payment, or you are deaf. See Chapters 10, 12, 13, 14 and 18 for details of which students can claim means-tested benefits.
If you get a means-tested benefit, you should claim the special support grant instead of the maintenance grant. Like the maintenance grant, the special support grant is a non-repayable, means-tested allowance of up to £3,475. The maximum amount is payable to students with a household income of £19,203 or less a year. A partial amount is paid on a sliding scale up to a household income of £41,065.
Unlike the maintenance grant, however, the special support grant does not substitute any part of the student loan and it is not taken into account as income when calculating your entitlement to means-tested benefits.