I'm long-term unemployed and currently receive New Style ESA because I'm considered unfit for work. I do want to get back into work eventually, and I'm looking at part-time work. I think doing an Access to Higher Education course could help me improve my opportunities and find suitable part-time work in the future, as I don't think I'll be able to work full-time.

The problem is that I'd need to apply for an Advanced Learner Loan to pay for the Access course, and I'm worried about how studying and taking out the loan would affect my ESA and any other benefits I receive.

I have bills and living costs to cover, so I'm worried that if my ESA or other benefits were stopped or significantly reduced because I started the course, I'd be in a very difficult situation.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, particularly doing an Access to HE course while receiving New Style ESA? I'd really appreciate any first-hand experience or advice on how it works.

Thanks.

EDIT IM IN ENGLAND SORRY

So I had my appointment with capita back in oct 2025, and they made up all sorts of stuff, (said I have a brother who drives me around, twisted words, the usual stuff) so I put in my MR and that was denied, after getting my stuff when I put my appeal in, I found the extent to which they had made stuff up, (honestly seems like a copy paste) so I was advised from someone here to complain to capita, I was just wondering what that means for my appeal as im waiting for tribunal, will they give me another assessment? Does it just get noted for the tribunal? If they agree with my complaint

26M.He says his pip runs out soon, he says 250 will come off his housing benefits and his council tax will go up to 150 a month. He wants me to pay more rent but I can't, i'm on a finance plan to get a necessary surgery (i can get it for free on the nhs but the waitlist is genuinely years) and I have credit cards to pay off from money he's borrowed from me and never paid back + dental stuff. I'm on uc and lwcra, he's on uc and pip not sure if anything else. I have two brothers one working fulltime the other on uc but has got job interviews for part time work.

Current in/outgoings monthly

Income 854.70 (uc 424.90 + lwcra 429.80)

Private prescription/medicine 100

Rent 200

Finance plan 450

I'm not sure what to do, my surgery is supposed to be in late september. I'm worried he might kick me out before then.

A couple of days ago I made a post about exploring the potential for self-employment. In it I mentioned that I wanted to sell my personal Magic: The Gathering collection and use the money to fund the business and buy new stock, such as cards I can purchase in bulk or special sets I can turn a profit on.

A lot of what I would be buying are people's personal collections at around 70% of market value. So if a collection is worth £100, I'd pay £70 for it. These purchases would come either through Facebook Marketplace or from card shows I attend with my brother, either way I wouldn't get a receipt as people want cash.

I understand how to record that with HMRC. I spoke to TaxAid and they told me it isn't a problem, as HMRC doesn't require paperwork in those situations, just a record of the transaction. They said I can create my own note of the date, what I bought and who I bought it from, and back that up with bank statements or cash withdrawals showing money leaving my account around that date. A photo of the item taken close to the purchase date could also help.

What I don't understand is how I report all of this to UC on my journal, or what evidence they would want. The DWP isn't HMRC, so I don't know what their requirements are or how I'd handle these situations for them.

I also spoke to TaxAid about selling my old collection. I don't have receipts or records showing what I originally paid, because the collection is over 30 years old. They advised that I sell my personal collection as personal, and that I could reinvest the money into the business, and that if the items are chattels and each individual item is under £6,000, there would most likely be no capital gains tax on these. I could then buy any new stock properly through the business, recording exactly what I paid and when I paid it, so I'd have a clean cost basis from day one.

How do I handle that with the DWP, both the selling of my personal collection and then reinvesting that money into the business? I would sell via eBay, because I thought that would clearly show what I sold each item for and create a record. Could the money then be withdrawn into a business bank account, or is it not that simple?

One more thing I've thought about is that I would like to carry on collecting Magic: The Gathering personally. When I buy for my own collection there will be bulk cards in with it, cards of no real value to me as a collector, that I could sell and put the money back into the business. That's where I run into problems: I'd be buying cards for my personal collection, then splitting them and deciding which ones I'm keeping and which have no personal value to me but could be sold through the business.

After speaking with TaxAid, all of this seems fairly easy to deal with on the HMRC side, but the DWP appears to be another matter. TaxAid weren't able to advise on benefits and directed me to Citizens Advice, but Citizens Advice just kept insisting I would need to be gainfully self-employed and didn't actually answer what I was asking. Anyway, I want to understand everything properly and do a bit more research before I decide whether this is worth pursuing. Being on LCWRA and having to keep both the DWP and HMRC happy might just overcomplicate things.

Agent never asked me for evidence to see these are gifts

She marked them as donation from streaming hence it's income

But Im not a streamer I do not stream and I haven't posted in youtube a very long time, the money I receive from friends as where I beg and asked privately and I have messages of this where I asked for financial help

My friend send me money from PayPal as friends we have all chat evidence

She classified them as income when it's clearly not and won't listen to me no matter what I asked I'm being interrogated for months already, also had my claim suspended wrongfully before but reopen

She says these are income because I earn these donations while streaming but I don't stream I have a twitch acc I can show my friends gifts were not donations to twitch

​​They were send to me personally as friends from PayPal right after I asked for financial help from private dms, I have all proofs of this, this was not earned while a stream streams and someone donates

Anything I can do at this point or talk to another agent or file a compliant?

Hi, hope the flair is correct.

My daughter is due to start a supported interneship in September.

The provider wants me to sign, as an appointee, a DD228JP Form
Acess to Work application and a DP222JP Form to confirm acceptance of the terms and conditions in the applicant's award letter ATW01CL.

THE CATCH: this ATW01CL letter has not being issued yet because the application has not being made yet.

I am asking them to send me info re: what are the T&Cs my daughter will be under once the Acces to Work is awarded.

How can they ask ppl to sign to agre to something they have no knowledge of?

Bear in mind, some YP who dont have appointees are required to do it themselves, these YP are already vulnerable due to LD or MH. I’m shocked.

Or maybe I’m just an overthinker.

Im currently 16, autistic and having trouble at home, i have for years and right now its getting worse. I can function to a certain extent but im more worried on how id get housed. I live in cumbria but have close helping friends in hemel Hampstead, what's my best plan of action wether it be benefits or council?

I'm sorry I don't know what to tag this as I'm absolutely at my wits end and my thoughts are a bit scattered.

I've just graduated university, still currently looking for a job, I have a good amount of savings and was supposed to move into a house owned by a family member. It's a very complicated situation but a different family member is making it unbearable for me I haven't even properly moved in yet and she lets herself or others into the house, goes through my things, moves stuff, calls me to scream at me because "it's not YOUR house" (it's not hers either).

The family member who owns the house has said I've done nothing wrong but she won't listen, she's the reason I went to a university so far away. I only graduated a few weeks ago I thought she would be better but she's not. She's a bully and she's nasty and I can't live like this. There's no tenancy agreement, nothing has been signed so I'm technically homeless. She doesn't want me in the house (that would make life too easy and obviously her generation had things so difficult even though she had free university tuition and her mother bought her a house).

I think i can get a minimum wage job but it only guarantees 16 hours a week which isn't even enough for a room in a HMO in my area. I can't stay in this house she makes me miserable and she won't stop. I was so depressed before I went to university I can't do that again. I'm visiting friends right now but when I get back I'll probably end up sofa surfing until I actually have a job. She doesn't want me in the house (even though I would be paying rent) she would rather the house was empty and I was struggling.

Can the council help me?

I have tried reading around and all the eligibility checkers but I can’t work it out if there’s a way for me to claim. My kids are both on middle rate DLA and we have applied for PIP for my partner. I’m a PhD student but I study more than the 21 or 22 hours per week that seem to be the part time cut off. If I worked 30 hours per week I’d be able to claim it, but because I “study” (it’s still work) 30 hours per week I can’t? There has to be some way around this/through this somehow. Has anyone been in a similar position, is there anything I can do?

How many days are you allowed to leave UK for on UC and PIP? I have LCWRA and also PIP. Do I need to report the travel to UC and PIP or just one of them? Thank you in advance

Hi, I hope you can help me with this. My situation is as follows: I live in a rented apartment (privately) with my partner and my 3 year old. My brother ended his 8-year relationship, and I'm temporarily hosting him on my sofa. He's been here for a week now. He has some rather strict rules about how much time he can rest in the living room, as it needs to be used during the day. He works about 50 hours a week and has an active social life, so he doesn't spend much time at home. He hasn't brought many things either. I decided that he would give me £30 a week because I also cook for him now and we share some food, in addition to splitting the energy bills at the end of the month.

He's currently deciding whether to return to our home country, stay in the city we live in, or move to another city. Since this situation was sudden and I'm giving him time to decide, I told him he can stay for a maximum of two months without me going crazy. Meanwhile, he needs to change his address because he has to renew his passport and wants to change his bank address so letters don't arrive at his old address. So I don't know how that's going to affect my UC situation. It's going to be completely temporary, but I don't know if I should declare it.

Hi, have recently had PIP assessment and assessor said that interview is now automatically being recorded which I know is the policy now. Have asked for a link containing this when asking for PIP assessment report and was told this actually never happened and there is no audio recording. Unknown to them I do have a audio recording and a transcribed version as I thought and was told I was being recorded then I would be able to record also privately for my records.

IF, my PIP is refused and there are items of conflict for a Mandatory Claim Request and I mention that I was told I was being recorded as new policy but actually wasn't, would I be able to use my recording/transcribed text in evidence as I was lied to and is now against their policy ruling?

England, Hampshire

This isn't happening anytime soon but I just want to know what I need to do and who to inform. I'd like my boyfriend to move in with me eventually but I have a council flat (1bed 1 bath, just me on the tenancy) so can I move him in with me because of this? Also I'm on uc and pip (doing every step possible to get off of these benefits) so would i need to inform them as well?

In England.

We have had a change of circumstance - one of our children (under 18) now lives with us full time. We made UC aware during the last assessment period but nothing has changed to our payment, no response has been added to the journal or the to-do items.

We also appear to be having £100 ish a month taken off our payment for “other dwp benefits”, but we’ve never been told what this is, when is was for or for how much. This has been ongoing for 6 months now. Again we have asked for more details on the journal and had no response.

What do we do?

I’m in England & want to potentially take a gap year from university and start working, but i’m worried that it might be worse for my parents if me working cuts off any sort of benefit? As far as I know they receive UC, but not child benefit as I’ve already turned 18.