Student member benefits advice
Read Rachel's story, and see how we could help you, too.
With the help of our Welfare Service, RCN student member, Rachel, was able to increase her benefits by up to £2,000 a year.
Read her story below, and see if we can help you claim more too by assisting you in recalculating your benefits at our Student Benefits Advice Clinic.
RCN Student member, Rachel, had been talking to some fellow single parent students online, as she was confused about how the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) had been calculating her Universal Credit.
Since she had started receiving the NHS Training Grant, it seemed that Rachel and a few other students on her course had benefit entitlements that were considerably lower than other students with similar circumstances in different parts of England. She had queried this with her Universal Credit Job Coach, who told her that the calculations were correct.
One of her fellow students advised her to get support from the RCN Welfare Service.
The Welfare Service advised her to get a breakdown of the calculation that the DWP were using to calculate her benefits. Once she had done this, the Welfare Service was able to do the correct calculations. They then asked the DWP for a Mandatory Reconsideration, citing the regulations for how student income should be treated. Four days later Rachel got a note on her journal, the DWP had looked at the decision again and had agreed that Rachel had been underpaid for the last academic year.
She received a backdated payment of £2,000 and her future benefits for her final academic year increased by £166 per month.
Rachel said: "Because the benefits calculations are so complex, I felt at the mercy of the DWP to get things right, it wasn’t until I asked around that things didn’t seem quite right.“The Welfare Service were really quickly able to do the correct calculations for me, and explain to the DWP where they had made a mistake”.
Get in touch to see if you could increase your benefits payments.
RCN members can schedule a free, one-to-one call, where we can assist in recalculating your benefits.
Email: welfare.service@rcn.org.uk to book an appointment.
Not yet an RCN member?
Join today and access our wealth of member benefits, including access to our Welfare Service, learning resources, counselling, and member discounts. Click here to join or to find out more.
Book an appointment
RCN student members can schedule a free, 20-minute one-to-one appointment with one of our welfare advisers. Email: welfare.service@rcn.org.uk
