Hello All.
I am represneting a young man who has had to temporarily abandon his university degree to care for his mother. CA has accepted his claim, the council do not class him as a student and his student loan has stopped.
I have looked closely at the DWP DM guide and Reg 61 of the IS (general) regulations 1987 and it is quite clear that he has to completely abandon the course. That merely deciding to give up the course is not enough and that he must have actually taken steps to permanently sever connection with the uni and that he remains a student during a break from study - despite the reason for this break.
This gentleman has not perminantly severed ties and I appreciate therefore that we are not going to win at appeal for all of the above reasons. However, i think this piece of legislation is awaful - indeed my reading of the law is that if he were making a claim for JSA he would be ok.
We intend on persuing this matter past the appeal hearing - as a matter of principle. However, I wonder what your opinions are on this and if you can suggest any way to present the case?
Thank you
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