Replies
No one has replied to this post.
Bank statements don't *prove* a lack of income though and also how do you tell if what *is* coming in is Earned Income or maybe they've got two bank accounts or or or. It's really poor evidence and very intrusive, in my opinion.
Genuinely advising that people just go for self-decs from learners where there is no income, no benefits. Can't think of a better way to prove a negative. Haven't personally had it audited but have spoken to colleagues in, for want of a better phrase, the auditing community who were happy with it.
We ask to see bank statements. It feels very invasive, but if they have a banking app, you can ask them to filter on incoming money only, then they can show you low/no income. We record that we've done that (you don't keep the evidence). We also do that for people who are working but below the earnings threshold if they don't have payslips/contracts.
As Steve points out, this is a pointless exercise as the student could have another bank account that their salary is paid into, so it proves nothing, but we have been told that we have to do it anyway (DfE and auditors have said this). There's also the issue of a joint account where someone else's income appears, and how do you prove it's not income for the student? I just checked my joint account on the app and I cannot find anywhere it lists my husband as the joint account holder. I'm not sure what I'd do for a student in that position! Ask them for evidence of that salary belonging to someone else? Just take their word for it that it belongs to someone else, in which case what was the point of checking anyway? Ask if they have another account they can show you that has no income? It's a farce. I agree that self-declaration is the correct solution, but we've been told that's not acceptable.
Sophie Hayes
Evidencing low earnings for economically inactive learners
Created
Just wondering if anyone can offer tips on evidencing how economically inactive learners meet the low earnings threshold (under £26,800).
We have some Level 2 adult learners who are unemployed, not claiming benefits and earn less than this amount. The ASF funding rules say we need to see evidence that they meet the threshold and gives examples of wage slips, employment contracts or UC statements, but none of these apply to these learners. I presume we still need to see evidence of their low (non-existent) earnings though as the rules state we need to evidence our decision to award full funding to an individual normally eligible for co-funding. I can only think of asking for three months' bank statements as an alternative but may be missing something obvious.
Thanks in advance.