2. Who is eligible

• Full-time non-advanced education
• Basic rules

You are eligible if you are a part-time student (see below), a full-time student age 20 or over, or a full-time student in advanced education age 16–19, and you satisfy the basic rules (see here).1Reg 13(1) CSP Regs You are not usually eligible if you are in full-time, non-advanced education age 16–19, although exceptions apply (see here). Special backdating rules apply for full-time students (see here).

 

1     Reg 13(1) CSP Regs »

Full-time non-advanced education

Only those aged 16–19 in full-time non-advanced education are excluded from CSP.

‘Non-advanced education’ is education below the level of Higher National Certificate (HNC), and includes school-level courses such as Scottish national qualifications up to and including advanced higher level, Scottish Wider Access Programmes and National Certificates.1Reg 13(4) CSP Regs

You are in ‘full-time education’ if you are undertaking a course where the average time spent studying is more than 21 hours a week. These 21 hours include not just classes, practical work, lectures and seminars, but also ‘supervised study’. Meal breaks and unsupervised study are ignored. For carer’s allowance (CA), you are regarded as studying under supervision if you are doing course work, whether at home or at college, alone or in the presence of a supervisor.2Flemming v SSWP [2002] EWCA Civ 641; Wright-Turner v Department for Social Development [2002] NICA 2 This does not have to be followed for CSP in Scotland, but is likely to be persuasive.

16–19 year-olds in full-time non-advanced education are not excluded from CSP if they are someone who would qualify for universal credit while receiving education (except if the reason they would qualify is that they are waiting to return to their course after taking time out due to illness or caring responsibilities – see here). Special backdating rules apply for students claiming on this basis (see here).

 

1     Reg 13(4) CSP Regs »

2     Flemming v SSWP [2002] EWCA Civ 641; Wright-Turner v Department for Social Development [2002] NICA 2 »

Basic rules

As well as being a student who is eligible to claim, to qualify for CSP you must satisfy all of the following conditions.1Regs 2, 4, 5, 6, 12 and 14 CSP Regs

•You are aged 16 or over.
•You spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone.
•The person for whom you care gets a qualifying disability benefit: the middle or highest care component rates of child disability payment/disability living allowance, the daily living component of adult disability payment/personal independence payment, attendance allowance, constant attendance allowance (in certain cases) or armed forces independence payment.
•You do not already get CA, UC carer element because you care for someone else, or a young carer grant (but you can get CSP if you previously had a young carer grant).
•You are not working and earning more than £151 a week.
•You satisfy certain rules on residence and presence in the UK and are not a ‘person subject to immigration control’.

See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook (for subscribers) for details.

 

1     Regs 2, 4, 5, 6, 12 and 14 CSP Regs »