Will my part-time course affect my carers allowance?

Benefits, finances and funding
1

Good afternoon

I am quite new here, am very grateful.for the resource and have a comparatively minor enquiry

I am in receipt of carers allowance, being the legal and sole carer for my younger brother

I have recently registered to commence the Legal Practice Course (part time PG Diploma - online) in September 2026.

The published study time is between 16-25 hours per week in total (averaging 20.5 hours per week).

I understand that I need to notify the authorities - and will do so, but does anyone know if the course (and hours above) would adversely mpact my carers allowance?

Any other pointers re notification would be appreciated as well.

Thank you

Cyril

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Hello @dikecc and welcome to the forum.

Study courses (full or part time) and carers allowance is a bit of a minefield !

I would recommend that you contact the Carers UK Helpline as they will be up to date on the latest regulations

Carers UK provides information, support and advice to carers. The information and advice we provide covers a range of subjects relating to caring including:

• Benefits and tax credits
• Carers employment rights
• Carers assessments and how to get support
• Services available to carers
• How to complain effectively and challenge decisions

You can email us at adviceline@carersuk.org and we will respond to your enquiries within 10 working days, although it can often be sooner.

Our telephone helpline providing information is open from Monday to Friday between 9am and 6pm - 0808 808 7777

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Hello Susieq.

Thank you very much for reading my post…& for your kind response.

I have noted the telephone number and will ring them now.

Where appropriate, I’ll place an update on the forum, in case it can help anyone else

Thanks again! :slightly_smiling_face:

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I did a part time degree about 30 years ago. One day at college, the rest at home. Rules have changed since then. I knew as my son got older I wouldn’t be able to meet his needs, and felt I deserved a good job afterwards. Life took a different turn, long story. Having something else for my brain to think about was great. If you don’t get CA but currently get UC you may be required to look for work.

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Thank you very much for the responses…

I have spoken carers UK, who advised that I contact the institution in question, to see if they have had any similar enquiries - and how they responded to them.

I await a call back and will see how we go.

Thanks again!

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@dikecc you could also ring the citizens advice bureau see if they know anything ,they have a lot of information. And if they don’t know they will advise you where to ring. type citizens advice bureau into google put the area where you live and it will come up with the phone number of your local one.

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Thank you for the suggestion.

I’ve looked up the CAB, will ring them tomorrow & see what they advise!

Thanks again!

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@dikecc your very welcome ,Is this course every week.i have just found this the care allowance criteria . In the criteria it states you are not allowed to be in full time education or studying 21 hours a week or more).in google type Carers allowance criteria it comes up with the www.gov.uk website care allowance . And it is on there. Take care.

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Thanks for the information and for the pointers.

The course is part time.

One of the questions I have put to the course provider relates to how many hours a week it involves.

I’ll await further information from them, and may still contact the CAB to see if there is anything else they advise

Thanks again for your responses.

Have a good night!

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@dikecc your welcome you can ring the cab to I looked on there website and it said about being a student and the gov.uk carers allowance this.You have to make sure you don’t do more than 20 hours a week studying then you will be ok. Cos it says 21 hours or over. So you could also see if you could do the course over along period if it works out more hours than 21 hours a week .then you could see if it could be done longer period so you do less hours a week studying then you be ok. If you need anymore help just ask ok.Good luck .have a good night to.

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Ultimately it is the decision of DWP.
You don’t want to spend money on a course only to find you can’t do it.

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Hello

This is the unfortunate situation that I (and I suppose many others before me) find ourselves in.

My intention is to gather as much background information regarding the courses as is possible - and then running it by the DWP

I am awaiting a breakdown re the course hours (taught time, compulsory and advised study time etc) which I’ll forward to them…

CAB advisor was helpful. They said that whilst ‘taught’ and ‘compulsory’ time are set in stone, ‘advised’ study time is still a grey area all round, as one size doesn’t fit all… This may make all the difference, but the DWP rules are 21 hours…

Oh well. Ill send off to the DWP once received…and see what they say!

Thanks again everyone.

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@dikecc hiya well that is all you can do. I’m glad the CAB advisor was helpful. I use them a lot they know about a lot of things.DWP do not make life easy. Take care and let us know how you get on . Good luck.and you’re welcome. Have a nice day.

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Thank you. You too. I’ll update in due course!

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