Disability allowance/ back to education late

thepikminman

Hi,

Anyway, my friend took a year off from college last year because of insanely bad social skills and narcolepsy. During the year off he went to apply for social welfare, but was told by a woman working there that he should apply for disability allowance instead because he has narcolepsy. He applied, and waited a long time (like 6 months) but eventually his application was accepted. Now he is back in college, and is still receiving his disability allowance payments (188/week) but doesn't get any grant. He just found out that he was supposed to change to back to education allowance because he's back in college, but he has been back since September. Is it too late for him to apply now? What is a worst-case scenario for him, could they demand all the money since September to be paid back since he should be on back to education allowance? Any suggestions about what he should do?

haveringchick

He doesn't and shouldn't apply for BTEA
He should just write to DA and tell them that he is in college
He can continue to get his DA
He couldn't have got the DA and the grant at the same time, anyway, but could possibly have had his registration fee/fees paid by SUSI depending on his income in 2014

Subcomandante Marcos

Actually, you can't get BTEA and the maintenance grant at the same time, but you can get DA and the maintenance at the same time, however you lose your other secondary entitlements (stuff like rent allowance or whatever it's called now) for the 9 months of the academic year.
Unless they're previously availed of the free fees for the year they are attending (I.e. started a degree but dropped out and/or they're repeating a year) they should automatically qualify to have the fees paid for by SUSI.

The only benefit of switching to BTEA that I can think of is that they could, possibly, work part time while studying, but this doesn't sound like an ideal solution for the OP's friend.

If your friend is receiving DA they should qualify for the special rate maintenance grant which works out at around about €335 per month (or 650 if they qualify for the special rate) from September to May on top of their DA payment.

thepikminman

I told him that he would definitely have to do it because on the application form it said "I agree that I will notify about any change of circumstances" or something like that and he obviously signed it. What does that even mean though then?

Gatling

thepikminman wrote: »

"I agree that I will notify about any change of circumstances" or something like that and he obviously signed it. What does that even mean though then?

Exactly what it's asking ,

Please inform the department of any changes in circumstances ,
He could be declared fit to return to work by his doctor ,
He could find full time employment,
He could move in with a partner or get married and have to be means tested and so on and so on.