HC1 form?

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HC1 form?

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Right, just got back this form and it is expecting me to pay quite a large amount! (i.e. barely any support).

On my income they state: "Student Loan income" - hang on a minute, that's a loan, how the **** can they count that towards my income? It's not income, income is money you get and can keep, I owe that money. So from this they say I am making money lol.

Anybody else had this problem?
 
i got a HC2 certificate when i was in my 1st year of uni - i put down my student loan on the HC1 form and they just sent me the HC2. I havent filled one in sinse so cant comment on the complexity recently.

i didnt have any problems and my dad earns well over the threshold for assessed student loans and stuff
 
I have received a HC2 form but the costs I don't feel are discounted, i.e. will still have to pay for check ups, although the limit of dental treatment is £70 whatever I have done, it still seems steep. I was thinking I would get free NHS treatment. I can't believe they assesed my loan as income?! I didn't put it down on the form but they asked for the student loan form.

Surely they understand the difference between income and borrowed money?! I am surprised they didn't take into consideration my overdraft!
 
Check this out


http://www.advice-centre.info/Students & NHS Costs.pdf



The NHS generally provides free health care. However, certain charges are made for items such asprescriptions, eye tests and dental treatment. People in receipt of Job Seeker’s Allowance, IncomeSupport and certain rates of Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit will automatically receiveentitlement to free treatment.

Any student under the age of 19 and in full-time education will receive free treatment. However many students will not fall into either of these categories and will have to apply for help on the basis of their low income. To apply for help you need to fill in an HC1 form –

Claim for help with health costs – which is availablefrom the Advice CentreWhat is considered a low income?To calculate if you will be entitled to assistance on low income grounds, the Prescription PricingAuthority will compare an "applicable amount" with your income. The applicable amount is the amountof money that the government stipulates that you need to live on (£43.25 for a single student under25) combined with the amount that you have to pay in rent.For home undergraduate students the student loan is calculated over 52 weeks (38 weeks in yourfinal year). Note that where a student loan is not taken out it is still assumed as income.

For students who have dependants, a disability, or who are not funded by the Local Education Authorityyour income may be treated differently. Please seek further advice from the Advice Centre if you wantdetails of how your income will be calculated.If your resources are less than your requirements or applicable amount then you will get full assistancetowards dental treatment, full assistance towards sight tests, glasses and free prescriptions. You willreceive notification of this on a HC2 form. If your resources are considered to be higher than yourrequirements then the excess will be multiplied by three and you will have to contribute this amounttowards your health care costs. In this case you will be notified of this on a HC3 form and will receiveno assistance at all with prescription charges.Should I make a claim?It is important to put in an application for help with health care costs even if you calculate that youare only entitled to partial support because it can make a big difference should you subsequentlyrequire dental treatment for example. The majority of students will be entitled to some level of healthcare support therefore in all cases we would strongly advise that students put in a HC1 application.Some students may want to note that a certificate, once issued, is valid for six months regardlessof any change in financial circumstances.What if I have already paid?If you have already paid for your prescriptions when they should have been free, you can claim arefund on form FP57 available at your pharmacist. If you have already paid towards NHS costs otherthan prescriptions you can claim a refund on an HC5 form, which is available from the Advice Centre.All claims must be made within three months of payment.If you have a lot of NHS costs but find that you are not eligible for exemption from charges for certainperiods you could purchase pre-payment certificates, which may save you money.This is a summary of the situation regarding students and NHS charges. Please contact the AdviceCentre for further information or advice.Students &NHS Costs
 
Cheers Charlotte, is it just me or is that f-ing crazy?! It's like you taking out a bank loan and then having to pay income tax on it! (crossed fingers that that ISN'T the case lol).

It's so very not fair and even if you don't take the loan they still take it into consideration?! Are they crazy. I am going to be writing a letter to them. I have no standing I know, absolutely nothing I can do but I have anger that this is how students are treated.

First they take away grants, charge tute fees and provide measely loans but then they treat it as income, income?! If it is income then I wouldn't need to pay it back....
 
Very true mate, very unfair indeed. There's a LOT of things regarding the Social Security / Welfare system that are unfair. I saw it with my own eyes. When it comes to benefits -the best thing is to claim unemployment from 16 - 65 and not bother working. Seems that way sometimes.

Let me know how your letter goes!

The people that are in charge of these HC1's are the PPA

Their website is

www.ppa.org.uk
and the link for your complaint form is here too

http://www.ppa.org.uk/contact/comments.htm

GOOD LUCK!!!
 
And they think students live off £40 a week? £22 for me on food, £4/week phone bill, average person = £10 a week or so on booze? Transport = £8 a week or so....oh, what, you mean I should get a TV license.....etc. etc. It works out more than that over a year! I am going to make this letter good when I do it, backed up by figures from UCAS and I will even call them totally and utterly insane. :D
 
It's messed up Paul, really it is. They pay £55.65 per week to a SINGLE person on Jobseekers allowance but only £87.30 for a couple. The Government's way of thinking is "Two can live as cheaply as one".

Look forward to seeing their response to your letter.
 
Sorry Charlotte, I got angry, I meant to say "thanks very much". Just can't believe they consider a loan as income. I should CC my letter to Blair and state that as his government accepts it as being "income" I won't be needing to pay it back. Fair enough if it was a grant but it's not, I owe that money to this country now. They are giving in one hand and taking it in the other.
 
The Negotiator said:
Sorry Charlotte, I got angry, I meant to say "thanks very much". Just can't believe they consider a loan as income. I should CC my letter to Blair and state that as his government accepts it as being "income" I won't be needing to pay it back. Fair enough if it was a grant but it's not, I owe that money to this country now. They are giving in one hand and taking it in the other.

It's mad isn't it. How can a LOAN be an income. It's a LOAN meaning you have to pay it back. Very bizzare! I can imagine their response will be they take into account Health Costs when deciding upon the loan calculations. That sounds like a DWP / Government kind of response!! :yuck:
 
Two minute job, so far:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have recently spent the time filling in a HC1 form to claim for help towards any medical care I will receive from our so called free NHS. As a student on an intensive course I took time to fill it in and expected a good amount of money towards my dental care mainly. None of us want toothache but the ache gets worse if you have to pay for it, right?

So imagine my surprise today when I receive a letter from you stating that I am only going to get very limited benefit. Namely nothing unless the dental procedure costs more than £68.34. I immediately thought this odd, how is this possible? I am a student who can’t afford the time to work and the government won’t even let me off paying check up fees at the dentist?

Some research tells me that you consider my student loan as income. Are you utterly and insanely crazy? Since when is a loan income? If you were to take a bank loan out would you expect to pay income tax on that money, no, I didn’t think so.

You state that I should be able to manage on £44.05 a week. Again, I find this difficult to believe. You should be aware that the DfES estimates the following, ignoring rental costs, fuel bills and tuition fees:


Food 1,103
Household goods 300
Insurance 68
Clothing 441
Travel 564
Leisure 1,440

Sources - DfES Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2002/03,

If I work this out correctly and assuming that the costs are relevant for the whole year, it costs about £75 per week to live.



I know I need to improve on it and expand on it etc. just a first rough draft and only took a few mins :)
 
Paulie I know just how you feel :(. When I was at uni I worked myself into the ground to stay afloat but my meagre minimum wage plus the student loan added up to more than the eight grand of income by a few pounds. Students who are poor and have to work are at a serious disadvantage here from those with rich maters and paters who gives them money because we have to declare it as income when we're the poor ones in need of real support :mad:.

Charlotte has given you the links so I won't bother repeating it but I would also find your MP and send them a letter (or http://www.faxyourmp.co.uk ). I would go into this much further - I can help you out with research if you like. The reason being there is currently a big debate rumbling on about how unfair presciption and dental charges are as they are so high for some people who cannot afford it, yet nil for a lot of people who can afford it. The more people who cry out over it the better.
 
I will be crying later. My MP doesn't like me....a run in to his face about first the war on Iraq (I got a bit personal) and a letter about tutition fees saying that i was "forever in his debt" didn't impress him!
 
happened to many when i was there too.. :( ppl should be allowed to study without the added worry of finances :(

bad luck mate... :( u recon you will ever go back and finish?
 
hoping to in 2006,learned a few lessons
main one being next time i'm there im gonna go for any benifit,help etc i can get.couldnt seem to get the work/study balance right.one always suffered.
true theres an imbalance in higher education.i was at Edinburgh Uni which is where most of the well off families kid's go.all driving brand new motors etc.dont mind them having the cash etc(much ;) )but the time they have available to study without needing to work is the killer
 
i hear ya... i wished id have got some help.. like a muppet i didnt have any loans etc... worked my ass off (jobs) + tried to study got a poor result.. and i did my self no favours!... so loans all the way i think.... if you get a good degree surely the debt is worth it...

saying that currently my degree has no bearing on how much i get paid lol

hard work tho.. that uni game! helps if you go to lectures tho doh'! :p
 
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