open university

i am on IS,DLA HRC LRM , my wife gets careres allowance for me
i suffer from ocd /psychosis

i was thinking of enrolling on a open university course i want to know will this affect my benefit ? and do i have to inform income support that i am planning to study ?

also i feel some anxiety that if i do the course they may say im fit for work and the last thing i want is to get into any problems

i just thought that by doing a course i could distract my mind from these thoughts and voices which i get constantly everyday

i hope someone can answer my question

thanks to all

Hi Saud,

You need to inform the DWP of any change to your circumstances which may affect your entitlement to benefit. We can't give you individual advice about this, but my own approach would always be to inform the DWP of anything that might conceivably be used as evidence that my condition had changed and that would certainly include undertaking study.

The type of course and the number of hours study will obviously be important. Participation in study may be taken into account when, for example, assessing a claimants ability to concentrate when carrying out a personal capability assessment for incapacity benefit.

That certainly doesn't mean that claimants can't undertake any type of study, but it's as well to think how you would demonstrate that the fact that you are studying does not prove that, for example, your concentration, motivation or whatever is relevant, hasn't suddenly impoved - assuming that it hasn't.

Good luck,

Steve

Skill, a national charity for disabled students, has factsheets about various issues to do with students and disability, including some on students and benefits. I found their stuff very helpful when I was doing my postgrad.

I didn't have any problems with the DWP when I was studying part time, but even full-time study is not always a problem, depending on your individual circumstances and the nature of the course. (Obviously taking into account Steve's caveats above.)

I chose to stress to the DWP the very flexible nature of my course, which went well beyond what one could expect in the workplace. I had flexibility to attend or not attend lectures (or even leave half way), flexibility over when and where I studied, flexibility over contents of coursework and flexibility over deadlines. My guess would be that the OU would be similar.

www.skill.org.uk/page.aspx?c=14&p=147

I never thought of this, thanks for the heads up on this saud, i must contact DWP and let them know i'm studying a law degree course. It is distance learning, I don't know if this affects anything. Hopefully not! I'm determined to finish it