Girlfriend losing BTE Allowance??

leakyboots

Hi all,

We're in a bit of a panic.

We just got a letter from social welfare who want me to supply my p60 and account statements within 10 days.

Basically, they are aware myself and my girlfriend are living with each other now and now we're afraid she'll lose her grant for college (which means she'll have to drop out).

Maybe I'm naive but I wasn't aware that us moving in together would have this effect, had we known that it could jeopardise her education we wouldn't have moved in.

What's the deal with this? How much does someone have to be earning to jeopardise the BTE allowance?

I'm in the lower tax bracket but not that far from the threshold.

Is there anyone we can talk to for advice?

Many thanks
LB

RedXIV

Hi,

Obviously different people in different circumstances will differ but basically (if what my OH has told me is correct) is that once she qualifies for ANY social welfare payment, be it JSA/JSB etc, even if its a measly €10 a week, she'll get full whack of BTEA.

When you moved in with her you became jointly assessed and your income will be assessed as money for both of you to live off. If you are make €20K a year you will probably be ok but get the finger out and send off the forms, the waiting times for this allowance are abismal.

you should be able to check cutoff rates etc on the citizen information website

Hope this helps!

leakyboots

RedXIV wrote: »

Hi,

Obviously different people in different circumstances will differ but basically (if what my OH has told me is correct) is that once she qualifies for ANY social welfare payment, be it JSA/JSB etc, even if its a measly €10 a week, she'll get full whack of BTEA.

When you moved in with her you became jointly assessed and your income will be assessed as money for both of you to live off. If you are make €20K a year you will probably be ok but get the finger out and send off the forms, the waiting times for this allowance are abismal.

you should be able to check cutoff rates etc on the citizen information website

Hope this helps!

Hi Red,

Thanks for the reply, very helpful. She as getting JSA, and last year she got BTEA alright.

I'm earning 30K gross, not 20K. The cut-off for the upper tax bracket is around 32K I believe.

I hope what I earn is still not enough for me to be considered to be able to pay for her education, because frankly, I just simply can't.

I'll try the Citizen's Information website now, thanks again for your reply.

If anyone else has any other info or opinion or experience of this please do reply

LB

mrs.matt.bomer

as far as I know BTEA is not means tested they never asked for my husbands income. what will be affected is any other benefits she may be getting like rent allowance and the maintenance bit of the grant if she is getting one.

Pace2008

mrs.matt.bomer wrote: »

as far as I know BTEA is not means tested they never asked for my husbands income. what will be affected is any other benefits she may be getting like rent allowance and the maintenance bit of the grant if she is getting one.

I'm 99% sure this is correct. BTEA is not a means-tested payment and once she's in the system she'll receive the allowance for the duration of her college course, provided she provides them with a letter of attendance whenever it's requested.

zzdp

normally once aproved the rate does not change for the duration of the course i.e 3/4 years. the rate may change over the summer months when she goes back to "dole" as she will then be means tested.but she will return to her full rate when she returns to college providing she is returning to the same course and not a new one.

RADIUS

BTEA is not means tested so she will be OK. It wouldn't matter if you were Donald Trump she would still be entitled to the full whack.