Care and support

Estrangement

One of the ways that you can get income support if you are aged 16, 17, 18 or 19 and still at school or college is if you can prove that you are 'estranged' from your parents or people acting as your parents. The course you are on has to be full-time - this means at least 12 hours per week - and non-advanced. Advanced courses are degrees, NVQ level 4 or above, HND and similar. A-levels, despite their name, are non-advanced.

The same definition of estrangement applies to 16-17 year olds who are claiming JSA and who are living away from home during the child benefit extension period (the 3-4 month period after leaving school).

'Estranged' is an odd word. It means that you and your parents are not getting on, and this is so bad that you can't live with them anymore. But you might still be in touch with them, to let them know that you are OK for example. They might even still be helping you out with money or food.

You have to show that you are estranged and that you have to live apart from your parents or people acting as parents.

This can be difficult to prove, especially if your parents say that they would have you back home. Jobcentre plus staff might try to contact your parents to confirm your story. If you can get a letter of support from a social worker, advice worker, connexions adviser or someone else who has been helping you, this can help convince the jobcentre. The letter needs to say why you are estranged and why you can’t live at home. Jobcentre plus shouldn’t need to contact your parents. Guidance given to jobcentre plus staff should mean that they don’t routinely check with your parents about why you have left home and whether you can return.

If the reasons for estrangement are too personal - you don’t want to tell anyone that you are pregnant or have been assaulted for example - then you should tell jobcentre plus staff that your parents shouldn’t be contacted. You shouldn’t be forced to give more information than you are happy to give.

If you are 16 or 17 and still in care, it is impossible for you to prove estrangement, as the County Council has a legal duty to support you. If you are 18 or 19 though, you can use the ‘estrangement’ route to get benefit whilst you are still in education, if you are estranged from your own parents, as the County Council is no longer acting as your parent.

Below are a few examples of the type of situations where income support may or not be paid on the grounds of estrangement.

Examples

• Lee is 16 and still at school, doing GCSE's. He has left home after months of arguing with his father and stepmother. He goes to stay with his friend Kam, and Kam's mother. He wants to stay at school and go on to college. He can get income support as he is estranged from his parents. He is entitled to income support until his 20th birthday if he stays in non-advanced education. If he moves into a flat of his own, he could get housing benefit too. Even whilst with Kam's mum, he could get some housing benefit to help towards his keep. However, if she is on benefits herself, she will have to declare the 'rent' he pays her.
  
• Jasmine is 17. She left home when she was 14 and went into foster care, where she still lives. She is not in contact with her parents at all. She is doing 'A' levels. She can't get income support because she is not estranged from the people acting as her parents, which is Children, Schools and Families. When she leaves care at 18 though, she could then get income support (until her 20th birthday if necessary), and housing benefit, so long as she is still doing her course. Or she could get JSA and housing benefit if she is unemployed. This applies even if she stays on with her ex-foster carers.
  
• Lucy is 15, still at school and pregnant. Her parents have kicked her out and she is staying with a friend’s family. She can’t get income support until she is 16. Then, she can get benefit because of estrangement, and then later because she is a parent. She will get income support for herself and child tax credit for the baby, plus a surestart maternity grant of £500. Those will be paid even if she stays on at school (and she could get Care to Learn money to pay for childcare, and an EMA too if she stays on after Year 11).
  
• Natalie is 18 and doing a full time NVQ Level 4 course. Her parents have kicked her out and she is living rough. She can't get income support because, although she is estranged, her course is seen as advanced education. She can’t get JSA because the course is more than 16 hours a week.
  
• Theo is 17. He is doing an OND catering course at college for 20 hours a week. He lives by himself in a hostel. He sees his parents occasionally but can't live with them because they can't accept that he is gay. He is estranged so can get income support for himself plus housing benefit to meet the rent in the hostel. He is thinking about moving into a flat with his 19 year old boyfriend Freddie, who is working. If he does, he won’t be able to get income support or housing benefit because Freddie would be seen as able to support him (although they might qualify for some HB on the basis of Freddie’s wages).
  
• Alison is 17 and doing a BTEC diploma course in car mechanics at college. She moves out from living with her dad because he doesn’t like her boyfriend. She moves in with her unemployed 20 year old boyfriend and his parents. If she is living as a couple with him, then she can't get income support in her own right but her boyfriend could get JSA for them as a couple. If they are not living as a couple, she could try and apply for income support in her own right because she is estranged but the jobcentre might argue that the people she is living with are ‘acting in place of parents’.
  
• Karim is 17 and left school at Easter 2008 (he could have left in summer of 2007). In June 2008, he leaves home and goes to live with a friend’s parents. Karim is looking for a job but needs money to pay for his food etc. He can't get income support, even though he is 'estranged' from his parents, because, after the May 31st ‘terminal date’ he is no longer classed as being in education. He might be able to get jobseeker’s allowance though, because in June he is still in the 20 week child benefit extension period and is estranged from his parents. After that has ended, he might get JSA on the grounds of severe hardship so long as he signs-on and contacts connexions etc.
  
• Navjot is 16 and has lived with her grandmother for 5 years because her parents live abroad. She leaves school in June 2008 and hasn’t got a job to go to. After falling out with her grandmother, she goes to stay with her friend’s parents in July 2008. Because she is classed as still being at school until August 31st 2008, she can get income support in July and August if she can show that she is 'estranged' from her grandmother. Her grandmother is the person who has been acting as her parent. In September, she might be able to claim jobseeker’s allowance instead, for up to 20 weeks (counted from the date she left school ) and then possibly JSA on the grounds of severe hardship after that.
  
• Nolene is 18. Her father died 3 years ago and her mum left home last year, to return to Jamaica. Nolene shares the rent with her 24 year old brother. She has been working in a shop but is now going back to college to do full time A levels. She can then get income support if she can prove 'estrangement' from her mum. She will also get housing benefit for her half of the rent. Once she reaches 20 though, her right to income support (and therefore housing benefit) will stop.

All of these are just examples - your circumstances might be different but you might still be 'estranged'.

In all of the examples described above, the parents or guardians of the young people concerned would lose their child benefit, child tax credit etc if the young person claims income support or jobseeker’s allowance.