Submitted by SADIA Kauser on Saturday 28th March 2026
Published on Friday 24th April 2026
Current status: Open
Open until: Saturday 24th October 2026
Current Signatures: 19
(count is updated approximately hourly)
Do not treat student maintenance loans as unearned income for universal credit
We believe maintenance loan payments for students should not affect universal credit at £1 for every £1. Other personal loans do not affect UC. Also if you work your UC is reduced by only 55p for every £1 earned, and we don’t know why this isn’t the case for maintenance loans.
We want such loans to be disregarded completely in UC calculations. The students entitled to UC are mainly mature students going back to studying and have a family and children. We feel that the government is penalising mature adults wanting to study later in life. Instead of helping struggling students the government is making it more difficult. Mature students are wanting to build a career and working life for themselves instead of relying on benefits but we believe UC rules make it impossible for people to do this. Government should help people get in to work and study.
If you want to sign this petition (as opposed to merely discuss it), you need to do that on the government's e-Petitions website.
216.73.217.179 Tue, 23 Jun 2026 08:22:55 +0100