In article , Clive D. W. Feather
writes
If you had left home and were earning, there came a point that
parental income wasn't counted at all - which most students seemed to
think was a "good thing".

It was, because you were unlikely to be near the minimum (and, IIRC,
you were assessed on expected income *while at college*, not on the
income in the years just before). But it took more than just a gap year
to get you to that state - again IIRC, it was 3 years unless you could
show special circumstances like being married and set up in your own home.

Yes, that's all pretty much how I remember it working.
--
"now, the thing you type on and the window you stare out of are the same thing"