The Education (Student Loans) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations, which revoke and replace the Education (Student Loans) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 (“the 1995 Regulations”) come into operation on 1st August 1996.

The changes of substance made by these Regulations, other than in the maximum amounts of loans and rates of interest, are described below.

Regulation 4(2)(b) has been amended, so that students in receipt of means-tested National Health Service awards or bursaries will in all cases be eligible for loans, while those in receipt of awards or bursasries which are not means-tested will continue to be ineligible.

Regulation 6(1)(b)(ii) of the 1995 Regulations, which prescribed a maximum amount of a loan in a case where a student did not live at home, but was treated by his Education and Library Board as if he did in determining the amount of maintenance grant payable to him under the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 has not been replaced in light of the revocation without replacement of paragraph 2(1)(c) of Schedule 7 to the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, which gave Education and Library Boards the discretion to treat students in the way mentioned.

Provision has been made for a student to defer making repayments of his loan in any case where another loan under the Order is made to him, in addition to the case where his income falls below a specified amount (regulation 11(1)(c)).

Paragraph 2 of the Schedule has been replaced so that the spouse of an EEA migrant worker, as well as the worker himself and his children, are eligible for a loan.