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Nursing student almost quit after out-of-pocket £10k benefits error

Mother of two Kelly Cresswell struggled financially when the Department for Work and Pensions miscalculated what she was entitled to for two years

Mother of two Kelly Cresswell struggled financially when the Department for Work and Pensions miscalculated what she was entitled to for two years

Nursing student and mother of two Kelly Cresswell struggled financial when the Department of Work and Pensions miscalculated her benefits
Nursing student and mother of two Kelly Cresswell. Picture: Kelly Cresswell

A nursing student was left £10,600 out of pocket after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) miscalculated her benefits for two years.

Kelly Cresswell was left with no choice but to work extra bank shifts on weekends and nights to support her two young sons all while studying for her nursing degree, with the extra stress impacting on her home life and emotional well-being.

‘My priority was making sure the kids had food on the table’

‘I was running on empty. It was awful, it affected my grades,’ she told Nursing Standard.

‘They were getting worse, and it meant university wasn’t my top priority. My priority was the kids and making sure they had food on the table, school uniforms and clothes. I am just scraping a pass, which is sad as I want to do well.’

Ms Cresswell had previously worked 18 hours a week in a nursing home and received a supplementary income from tax credits. When her youngest child was old enough to go to school, she decided to embark on her dream of becoming a nurse, keen to make her sons proud.

Joining the University of Chester in September 2020, she applied for Universal Credit to supplement her income after a fellow student in the same situation recommended it. But when the application was processed, Ms Cresswell was shocked to find her payment was just £50 a month.

Nursing student and mother of two Kelly Cresswell
Ms Cresswell went to lectures, wrote assignments, worked 39 hours a week during her placement and picked up many spare shifts to make ends meet
Picture: Kelly Cresswell

Picked up hospital bank shifts and worked all weekend

‘I could see I was entitled to help with rent and childcare, but they’d taken it off me for the student loan. I didn’t think it could be right, but when I contacted them they said it was,’ she said.

‘It was coming up to Christmas and I was struggling so I just picked up bank shifts at the hospital and worked all weekend.’

Ms Cresswell was going to lectures, writing assignments, working 39 hours a week during her placement, looking after her children and picking up as many spare shifts, including nights, as she could to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, she continued to contact the DWP dozens of times, but they brushed her off.

It was not until she contacted the RCN for support that welfare officer Claire Cannings was able to guide her through the complex process and finally get the money she was entitled to.

In July, at the end of her second year of university, the DWP reimbursed Ms Cresswell £10,600, but she said the mistake has had a lasting impact on her nursing degree.

‘Stressed and tired’ Ms Cresswell almost quit dream of becoming a nurse

‘It’s a relief to be able to cut back on the extra shifts and not have to worry so much about putting food in the fridge. But now they are paying me properly I wish I could start it all again,’ she said.

‘I’m a hard worker, but at times I didn’t do as well as I could because I was so exhausted by all the extra shifts. There were times I thought about giving up on becoming a nurse because I just couldn’t afford it. I was so stressed it made me snappy and tired.’

In April, the RCN found around half of students with children could be owed money from the DWP after their Universal Credit had been underpaid by thousands of pounds.

A spokesperson for the DWP said: ‘We apologise unreservedly for the underpayment to Ms Cresswell, which was caused by a manual processing issue. We have now corrected the error and paid Ms Cresswell all of the arrears in full.’


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