Hello,

I'm going to be a father in a few months. I get a studentship from my university to do my phd, and on the side I take a few tutorials a week. My wife works in the private sector.

My question is this, does my studentship count as income when calculating our entitlement to child tax credits? I'm aware that my tutoring will as I pay NI on that income, but the information on the HMRC website is not absolutely clear when it comes to my studentship.

Anyone who knows the answer to this will be my hero!! (up)8-)

PhD Studentships don't count towards the tax credit calculations as they only take into account taxable income and PhD funding isn't classified as such.

Thank you. I confirmed this with an advisor at the University earlier on today, but great to hear someone else saying the same. I thought it was too good to be true to be honest!!

Hi Killahtron,
My friend was having the same issue few months back but to answer your question it doesn't count at all.


best wishes:-)

I have a similar question. Does the studentship time count as 'work' ? so when you are asked how many hours per week you work do you include the time spent on the studentship? I and my wife currently get working tax credit and child tax credit due to our low pay in part time freelance sector. we are trying to work out if we will be worse off if i go down to v little hours of work.

That I couldn't say. However, as a full-time student you are classed as studying full-time if you see what I mean. In terms of how HMRC look at it, I couldn't say.