Hello, im in desperate need of some help, and i am sorry if this post is long.

My story :

I am a full time university student with a young child. I moved into my own rented house in June 2007, and i was receiving income support as i was a single parent, and also housing benefit. I got council tax benefit as students are entitled to this.

My income support suddenly stopped in Feb 2008, i rang them up and they said it was because i am a student, and i get student loans to live off, so i do not need any help off them.

This is wrong because my student loans cannot be used for living expenses and to pay rent, i need my student loans to pay for tuition fees, text books, childcare fees etc.

What i do not understand is i started university in 2005, and i have been getting income support since 2003 (when my son was born) , so why did my income support not stop in September 2005 when i started university?

My partner moved in with me in March 2008, so then i stopped being entitled to housing benefit because my partner works full time.

So we have been paying full rent since March, and also council tax.

Then, i got a letter saying i have been overpaid housing benefit for the period September 2007 - March 2008.

I presume they mean from when i started my last year at university.

I have been to the citizens advice office, and they said i should appeal it, but in the mean time i should take my evidence of earnings to the housing office ( tax credit letters and student loan letters).

Sorry for the long post, but i just do not know what to think at the moment.

If you are a student I believe it will help you with other benefits if you are looking for work and if you say that you take a job if one is offered.

I think you mean jobseekers allowance, and no, i was told i should continue to claim income support because i was a single parent.

To be honest, i don't understand what you are trying to say, i am not talking about the future, but the PAST.

The facts are, I was on income support because i was a single parent.

Why didnt my income support stop in 2005 when i started university, instead of stopping it in 2008, there arent any other different circumstances to which they can stop my income support.

Also, how can they say i wasnt entitled to housing benefit when the only income i got was student loans, and if you look closely on the student loans website, it states ' student loans cannot be used for paying rent'.

And, another thing id like to add,

My only income was: 50pounds student loan every week, 40 child tax credit every week, and 18pounds child benefit.

Of which i had to pay 168pounds student fees every month, so basically all i had left over from my student loan payments were 32pounds every month.

So, my weekly income worked out at around 66pounds.

Do you honestly think i could pay my rent plus provide for my young child off 66pounds a week?

My rent is £55 every week, so that means i would have had 11pounds left to buy food, pay for essentials such as heating, electric.

sorry if my previous post sounded like i was being nasty, i didnt mean to take my anger out at you :(

I am just annoyed, and do not want to pay back 2 thousand pounds when i think i was entitled to it at the time.

If anyone could advise me further on what the next step is.

Hi nicola, can i ask when you started uni did you let income support know? If you did then it may be a fault with the income support section not closing your claim at that point, as income support is not normally awarded to people on uni courses, have a google search or look on the jobcentreplus website as there will be more info there. All the best...