Airline training - paying the bills.

[Wannabe1974]

I am about to start full-time pilot training on a well-known integrated course. Obviously I have planned ahead and budgeted for how much money I will need and reckon I can survive for the 15 month course and also have a reserve for when I'm job-hunting.
Does anyone have any hints or tips on additional sources of income during this time? Will I be entitled to say I'm a student and therefore the benefits of that status such as discounted council tax? Also am I entitled to claim any benefits?
Any advice that can be offered is most welcome...

[Gillespie]

I doubt you'll be able to collect benefit, as you're not able to 'start work immediately'. That's what they told me anyway.

I worked in a bar whilst training. Kept my head above water. Just.

[Re-Heat]

You are not able to do either, unless you are prepared to take the risk of being caught and getting a criminal record.

Benefits are not available when you have elected to go on a training course under any circumstances.

Student status is probably more flexible, however since the Treasury has deliberately classified flying training as a leisure pursuit rather than a training course, it is unlikely you will obtain student status. Unless your course is proactive enough to approach the NUS and sort it out (by paying a fee for accreditation)...

[Wannabe1974]

I'm trying not to get depressed about this, but it seems to me that the situation is pretty much as follows:
- I've paid countless thousands in tax over the years in the forces.
- I'm leaving to better myself and train for a new career. However I am entitled to zero benefits because I'd rather do this than sit on my arse watching sky all day whilst increasing the share price of Philip Morris (benefits - approved!).
- I am entitled to no tax relief or VAT refund despite being on a professional full-time course at a well-established school where a significant proportion of my fees are going on fuel duty and VAT.
In short there is absolutely no help out there whatsover! Don't get me wrong - I realise that this is my choice - but when did this country get so mean!?

Actually I think I know the answer to that question...

[Lucifer]

Benefits is easy to dismiss as it would incentivise the wrong people to take the wrong education, however the VAT point I agree upon entirely.

Answer being - go to Jerez where there is no VAT!

[v6g]

Another reason for training in Canada, flying training expenses are tax-deductable, plus you get a GST (VAT) rebate, plus an additional deduction for being classified as a student while you're training.

[Wannabe1974]

Let's just say from now on we're talking UK! Thanks for the foreign tips guys, but I pretty much need to stay in the UK for my training.

[Kempus]

Get a letter from your FTO stating that you are in a full time training course. Send it to the local council, if your planning on staying at home you will get a discount, if you move into a house with some other students you will pay no council tax at all.

Thats all your entitled to i'm affraid! Its not much but its all I got and its better than nothing at all!!

All the best with your training.

kempus

[NavyDropout]

Another reason for training in Canada, flying training expenses are tax-deductable, plus you get a GST (VAT) rebate, plus an additional deduction for being classified as a student while you're training.
A bit off topic but:

Are there any training schools in Canada that do the same job as eg OAT or CTC with similar qualifications at the end? I went there on my gap year and loved the country - would love to go back again if I could! cheers!
ND

[Wannabe1974]

Thanks Kempus!
I guess it is better than nothing... No-one ever said this would be easy!

[ATPLTrainee]

Wannabe1974, sorry i can´t be more positive but the outlook is bleak, i´ve been working on the situation since i started on my course about 6 months ago. Fortunately for me my MP is Gerald Howarth, Shadow Defence Secretary and member of the parliamentary aviators group. When i wrote to him asking why it was my friends who had gone to uni received many more benefits then those of us undertaking a much more costly but required course to gain the necessary skills to undertake our chosen vocations he seemed very interested in the subject. Unfortunately i can´t copy his reply here because the letters in the UK and i´m in Spain until December as part of the initial flying part of my course. What i do recall is that he was very positive in making an effort to speak to the minister for education aswell as organisations such as AOPA and the CAA. Hopefully something will come as a result of this, but whether it will be in time to be of any benefit to us i can´t say.

If all else fails get an NUS card, at least you can get into the cinema for a little bit cheaper :)

[Wannabe1974]

Wannabe1974, Fortunately for me my MP is Gerald Howarth, Shadow Defence Secretary and member of the parliamentary aviators group. When i wrote to him asking why it was my friends who had gone to uni received many more benefits then those of us undertaking a much more costly but required course to gain the necessary skills to undertake our chosen vocations he seemed very interested in the subject.

That's great. I might do the same - the more people that do, the greater the chances of something being done about it.

[Impress to inflate]

I went through pilot training ten years ago with a bread knife and a young bread snatcher so I lived out of collage. I was made redundant from the offshore rigs before I started at well known collage. I rolled up to the local DSS and told them story of woe and strife and explained I was trying to feed the Mrs and sprog and pay £38,000 to in prove my life and not live of state benefits for the rest of my life and all I wanted was some help for a year. I was told that because I owned a house in the North East of Scotland (I was letting it out and not making a penny profit because I wanted to move back to the same house knowing that was where I would live again when I had my license) I could not get a penny benefit. All we lived off was child benefit, £42.50 a month. After seven months I walked back into the DSS office and pleaded with them, in then end they paid for my rent, £400 a month. The Mrs got a part time job in the local pub at weekends and the landlord was a real gent and let her ALL the tips ( and I got a free steak dinner every Friday night) That was another £70 a week. In the end we managed but only just.

[robdesbois]

ATPLTrainee likewise I'll give that a go. My MP has no association with aviation AFAIK but is very proactive so fingers crossed. The more the merrier :)

--Rob

[umoya]

I know this thread is a bit old but it's the only relevant place I could find...

While on the CTC wings course I applied for a student discount for council tax but it was rejected as CTC "isn't a registered place of higher education". I've appealed the decision and now have to present my case to a Valuation Tribunal. I would be interested to hear from people who have successfully applied for the discount...names of the council and flying schools etc.

Thanks