IS whilst still at school

My client is affected by the benefit cap as she has 5 dependant children living with her.  One of these is a 16 yo in school year 11, who is herself a lone parent.  Curently my cl claims CHB and CTC for the 16 y/o, and the 16 y/o claims CTC and CHB for her child.

If daughter claims IS instead of mum claiming CHB and CTC for her, mum is still affected by the cap so her benefits stay at £500 per week, but the IS amount for daughter adds £56 per week to the overall houseold income, which would go some way to plugging the hole in the budget if she pays it to mum as board.

However wasn’t sure if daughter can claim IS as a lone parent whilst still in year 11 or whether she has to wait until she leaves school?  I couldn’t quite make my mind up from what is says in CPAG!

My understanding is that the 16 yr old would qualify for IS now.  Why do you think the year she is in matters?

I might be missing something but I have always thought you can claim IS as a lone parent at 16 and in relevant education.

I think she can too. I can’t think of anything to prevent her from claiming as long as she is 16+ regardless of whether or not she is still at school.

tony pickering - 01 April 2014 04:37 PM

My understanding is that the 16 yr old would qualify for IS now.  Why do you think the year she is in matters?

I might be missing something but I have always thought you can claim IS as a lone parent at 16 and in relevant education.

Thanks, I couldn’t see any reason why year 11 was not relevant education but was paranoid in case I had missed someing.

If the 16 year old is claiming Child Tax Credit for her child, she would not be a qualifying young person for Child Benefit or tax credits i.e. mum should not be able to claim for her anyway.

I agree getting the young mum to claim in her own right is the way forward.