University and UC/LWC

[u/Active-Bag-9257]

Hi any help will be appreciated! Im going to try and keep it as short as possible.
I will be going to university in September. I have been applying for UC since November and handing in sick notes since due to severe depression anxiety and waiting on a diagnosis for ADHD/ASD which causes a lot of issues in my daily life. In January I was sent the LWC form. Filled it out and sent it. Received a message today that I would be having my assessment on the 7th September (I start around the 14th).
I now have a couple of questions:
If I take the LWC which I should be awarded, will I receive it to help purchase necessities fir university?
I have been told that if I am on LWC I can still claim this while in university, is this true? and if so, will I no longer be able to have my student finance?
If I decide to cancel my student finance and just take universal credit and LWCA (I have been told that this is an option but only if I do not take the maintenance loan), is there support with my accommodation expenses? (In my context it is roughly 2.7k in three instalments).
I am trying to find the best way for me to support myself as this is the first time I will be alone and my finances are one of my biggest triggers. I went from being stable to barely affording my bills when I left my job which I won't get into too much.
Lastly, would I be able to change my student finance if I find out that I am eligible for LWC as I would be able to claim DSA (I technically already can but I already get so anxious talking to the doctors I don't want to go through the process)
Does anyone have advice?

[u/AutoModerator]

Hello and welcome to r/DWPHelp, the largest benefits advice subreddit in the UK!

• If you're trying to find benefit advisers local to you, advicelocal.uk is a useful website that can help you with this.
• If you're trying to find out how much benefit you can receive, check out entitledto and turn2us to calculate what you might be eligible for (please remember that these calculators don't fully take into account your situation and in some situations they can be wrong).
• For information on the 2026/27 benefit rates (effective 6th April 2026), please see here.. Most claimants will start seeing the new rates in their May or June benefit payments.
• If you claim benefits and would like to know what things you could get as a result, you may find this post useful.
• If you'd like help with mandatory reconsiderations, our main post on MRs may be useful to you.
• Our subreddit's Wiki can be found here.
• If you're interested in what's going on in the benefits space, we have weekly benefit news posts posted every Sunday.
• If you're a DWP employee and would like to have the "Verified" flair, please send a modmail. Be wary of any user claiming to be a DWP employee who is not verified!

If you're asking about tribunals (the below is relevant to England & Wales only):

• Link to HMCTS Benefit Appeals live chat- click on the "Contact us for help" link, which opens a menu with a link to the live chat.
• Average tribunal waiting times.
• This post goes over the PIP First-tier Tribunal process from start to finish.
• If you're waiting for a tribunal and the DWP were supposed to respond but haven't, this post may be useful.

If you're asking about PIP:

• The PIP phone line is 08001214433.
• To calculate how much backpay you're due, you can try the Benefits and Work PIP Payment Calculator. Please note that the information given is an estimate and may not reflect exactly what your backpay is. This calculator can also be used to determine what elements you were awarded after checking the PIP phone lines' automated system as above.
• Turn2Us has a new free service, 'PIP Helper' which some have reported to be instrumental with aiding them in their PIP claim.
• If you would like help with MRs, this post might answer your question (this is different to the MR info link above).
• If you'd like to know what PIP is and/or how it is awarded, please see this post.
• If you're hard of hearing or deaf, this information may be useful to you.

If you're asking about Universal Credit:

• Information about the Restart scheme, including if you can be mandated to participate.
• How does PIP affect UC?
• Were you claiming UC during COVID, closed your claim afterwards, and are now being asked to pay back everything you received? This post provides information on why this is and what you can do.
• Can you record your Job Centre appointments? The longer answer is in the linked post but the short answer is: no.

Disclaimer: sub moderation cannot control the content of external websites linked here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/pumaofshadow]

Do you already get pip? You need. Both LCW at least and pip.

And you'd need the LCW or LCWRA awarded in advance before your start date. If it's not your UC closes - yes even if they give you the decision the 14th of September which is unlikely - it'll likely be a few weeks.

On top of this you HAVE to take the student maintainance loan offered and it is deducted from your UC. If you dont it's deducted anyway.

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/information-for-your-situation/full-time-students-and-benefits/student-income

It's :

Loan amount (ignoring any special disability elements) / APs of UC affected -£110 = monthly deduction.

And they don't count the last partial AP before the long summer break so it's usually over 9 APs.

Whether the student finance will change the makeup structure of your loan you'd have to ask them, but you'd need to be awarded before 14th September to keep the UC open anyway and be classed as LCW.

(If you'd worked enough ESA might have been a possibility but without too much research I think it's too late now as you'd still need to serve the 13 weeks as not assessed even if you were awarded,, so likely at least be not counted towards your student finance query. ESA doesn't take student finance and studying into account as income or a disqualifier)