Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

PART I STUDENT'S INCOME

Calculation of student’s income

1.—(1) In calculating the student’s income for the purposes of regulation 12(1)(b) there shall be taken into account his income (reduced by income tax and social security contributions) from all sources, and any payment referred to in paragraph (b), whether or not it is income, but there shall be disregarded the following—

(a) in a case not covered by paragraph (u), the first £840 of income of any description;

(b) the first £3,960 of any payment by way of—

(i) an award made to the student in respect of the course (in pursuance of a sponsorship scheme or otherwise) not being an award made in pursuance of Article 50 or 51; and

(ii) in the case of a student released by his employer to attend the course, any payments made by that employer;

(c) any grant to facilitate teacher training paid to the student under regulations made under section 50(1) of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986(1) or any payment made in respect of the student’s training as a teacher by an institution to which grants, loans or other payments for that purpose are provided under section 5 of the Education Act 1994(2) or under section 65(3) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992(3);

(d) in the case of a student for whose benefit any income is applied or any payments are required to be applied as described in paragraph 5(5)—

(i) the whole of that income or those payments if a parental contribution ascertained in accordance with Part II or a spouse’s contribution ascertained in accordance with Part III is applicable (at whatever amount including nil that contribution is ascertained to be);

(e) any pension, allowance or other benefit paid by reason of a disability or incapacity to which the student is subject and any war widow’s or war widower’s pension;

(f) any bounty received as a reservist with the armed forces or in the Royal Irish Regiment or in the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve;

(g) remuneration for work done during any academic year of the student’s course;

(h) in the case of a student in whose case a parental contribution is by virtue of Part II applicable (at whatever amount, including nil, that contribution is ascertained to be) any payment which is made under covenant by a parent by reference to whose income that contribution falls to be ascertained;

(i) any payment made for a specific educational purpose otherwise than to meet such fees and such requirements for maintenance as are specified in Schedules 5 and 6;

(j) child benefit payable under Part IX of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992(4);

(k) any allowance payable to the student by an adoption agency in accordance with regulations made pursuant to Article 59A of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987(5);

(l) any guardian’s allowance to which he is entitled under section 77 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

(m) in the case of a student with whom a child has been placed by a Health and Social Services Board or a Health and Social Services Trust, under Article 27(2)(a) of the Children (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

(n) any payment made to the student in pursuance of an order made under Article 15 of and Schedule 1 to the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 in respect of a person who is not his child, or any assistance given by a Health and Social Services Board or Health and Social Services Trust pursuant to Articles 35 and 36 of that Order;

(o) income support or family credit or working families' tax credit under Part VII of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992; or any transitional addition, personal expenses addition or special transitional addition payable under Part III of the Income Support (Transitional) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1978(6);

(p) any housing benefit granted to the student in pursuance of a statutory or local scheme under Section 122(1)(d) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992(7) or a scheme under Part VII of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992(8);

(q) in a case not covered by paragraph (u), the first £3,185 of any pension, allowance or other benefit payable by reason of the student’s old age, his retirement, the death of his spouse or parent or another person on whom he was wholly or mainly financially dependent, or by reason of his military or other public service;

(r) any payments made to the student under the action scheme of the European Community for the mobility of university students known as ERASMUS(9), the European Community programme for foreign language competence known as LINGUA(10) or the European Community programme known as LEONARDO DA VINCI(11);

(s) any payment made to the student out of access funds held by the institution at which he attends his course;

(t) any payments made to the student for the maintenance of his child by virtue of any agreement, instrument or statutory provision;

(u) where a parental contribution does not apply because the student falls within paragraph 3 of this Schedule and a spouse’s contribution does not apply under Part III of this Schedule, the first £7,500 of income of any description, other than any sum treated as income under sub-paragraph (6).

(2) Where income may be disregarded under more than one of the sub-paragraphs of paragraph (1) it shall be disregarded under the sub-paragraph or sub-paragraphs which will result in the largest amount of the student’s income from all sources being disregarded under paragraph (1).

(3) Where the student is a European student and his income arises from sources or under legislation different from sources or legislation normally relevant to a person who is settled in the United Kingdom within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971(12) his income shall be disregarded in accordance with paragraph (1) but shall be disregarded to the extent necessary to ensure that he is treated no less favourably than a person in similar circumstances in receipt of similar income who is settled in the United Kingdom.

(4) Where a student makes any payment for the maintenance of his child or former spouse or person who lived with him as his spouse by virtue of any agreement, instrument or enactment, the amount of such payment shall be deducted in calculating his income for the purposes aforesaid.

(5) In the case of a student who makes any payment in pursuance of an obligation incurred before the first year of his course, in calculating his income for the purposes of regulation (12) (1)(b) there shall be deducted therefrom—

(a) if, in the opinion of the board, the obligation had been reasonably so incurred, an amount equal to the payment in question;

(b) if, in its opinion, only a lesser obligation could have been reasonably so incurred, such correspondingly lesser amount (if any) as appears to it appropriate,

except that no deduction shall be made from the income of a married student where the student’s spouse is a dependant for the purposes of Part III of Schedule 6 and, in pursuance of paragraph 14(1) of that Schedule, the payment is taken into account in determining the spouse’s income.

(6) In a case where the student is the parent or step-parent of an award holder in respect of whom a contribution is ascertained under Part II so much of the amount (if any) by which the contribution is reduced under paragraph 4(3) of that Part as the board considers just shall be treated as part of the student’s income for the purposes of regulation 12(1)(b).

(7) Where the student receives income in a currency other than sterling the value of the income shall be—

(a) if the student purchases sterling with the income the amount of sterling the student receives for it, otherwise

(b) the value of the sterling which the income would purchase using the rate for the month in which it is received as published by the Office for National Statistics in “Financial Statistics”.

(1)

1986 c. 61: section 50 was amended by the Education Act 1993 (c. 35), section 278(6), Schedule 19, paragraph 102, Schedule 21 Part II, and by the Education Act 1994 (c. 30), section 13(2) to (4)

(2)

1994 c. 30

(3)

1992 c. 13

(4)

1992 c. 7

(5)

S.I. 1987/2203 (N.I. 22); Article 59A was inserted by paragraph 164 of Schedule 9 to the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/755 (N.I. 22)); the relevant Regulations are 1996/438

(6)

S.R. 1987 No. 460; Part III was amended by S.R. 1988 Nos. 132 and 153, S.R. 1991 No. 341, S.R. 1992 No. 284 and S.R. 1995 No. 71

(7)

1992 c. 7; the scheme under section 122(1)(d) is currently constituted by the provisions of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (S.R. 1987 No.461 as amended by S.R. 1988 Nos. 117, 186, 314 and 424, S.R. 1989 Nos. 125, 260, 366 and 408, S.R. 1990 Nos. 33, 136, 137, 297, 395, 345, 298 and 442, S.R. 1991 Nos. 47, 176, 204, 337 and 520, S.R. 1992 Nos. 6, 35, 85, 141, 201, 284, 298, 404, 435, 444 and 549, S.R. 1993 Nos. 145, 149, 195, 218, 233, 373, 381 and 414, S.R 1994 Nos. 65, 80, 88, 137, 266, 274 and 335, S.R. 1995 Nos. 64, 71, 101, 129, 223, 280, 367, 410 and 481, S.R. 1996 Nos. 11, 73, 84, 92, 93, 111, 115, 181, 221, 291, 334, 375, 405, 448, 476 and 662 and S.R. 1997 Nos. 3, 4, 22, 113, 123, 126, 127, 130, 152 and 170)

(8)

1992 c. 4; the scheme under Part VII is currently constituted by the provisions of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1971) as amended by S.I. 1988/661, 909, 1444 and 1971, S.I. 1989/416, 566 and 1017, S.I. 1990/127, 546, 671, 1549, 1657, 1775 and 2564, S.I. 1991/235, 1175, 1599, 2695 and 2742, S.I. 1992/50, 201, 432, 1101, 1326, 1585, 2148 and 3147, S.I. 1993/317, 349, 518, 963, 1150, 1249, 1540 and 2118, S.I. 1994/470, 542, 578, 781, 1003, 1608, 1807, 1924, 2137, 2139 and 3061, 1995/511, 560, 625, 626, 1339 and 1742, S.I. 1995/1644, 2303, 2792, 2868 and 3282, S.I. 1996/30, 194, 462, 965, 1510, 1759, 1803, 1944, 2006, 2432, 2518, 2545 and 3195 and S.I. 1997/65, 454, 543, 584 and 582

(9)

O.J. No. L166, 25.6.87, p. 20

(10)

O.J. No. L239, 16.8.89, p. 24

(11)

O.J. No. L340, 29.12.94, p. 8

(12)

1971 c. 77; amended by the British Nationality Act 1981 c. 61, section 39 and Schedule 4, by the Immigration Act 1988 (c. 14), sections 1, 3, 4, 6 and 10 and the Schedule, by the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 (c. 23), sections 10 to 12