ESA and full-time education

Hi.

The rules around remaining eligible to receive ESA whilst in full-time education are confusing me. My ESA was stopped last September because I was going to university and I was not in receipt of DLA (which I believe is what enables you to carry on receiving ESA) but I've also been told it can depend on what constitutes full-time education and how many hours you attend your course?

My course is deemed full-time, but my contact/attendance hours per week were 8, which is half of the 16 hour cut-off. Was it therefore an error on the part of the DWP to stop my ESA (I wasn't even asked how many hours I attended the course) or am I missing something that would total up my hours to 16?

Hi Jordan,

I believe that the DWP are guided by the university as to whether your course is classed as 'full time'. if it is classed as full-time by the uni, then it will also be classed as full-time by DWP. Don't forget that actual face-to-face tuition is only a small part of the time needed to study at degree level.