Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Part III Maintenance of dependants

10.—(1) The requirements referred to in regulation 13(1)(a) shall include the student’s requirements for the maintenance of dependants during the year and the amount of any such requirement (“dependants' requirement”) shall be determined in accordance with this Part.

(2) Where a student’s requirements for the maintenance of dependants are different in respect of different parts of a year, his dependants' requirement for that year shall be the aggregate of the proportionate parts of those differing requirements.

11.—(1) In this Part—

• “adult dependant” means, in relation to a student, an adult person dependant on the student not being his child, his spouse or a person living with him as his spouse or his former spouse, subject however to sub-paragraphs (2) and (3);

• “child”, in relation to a student, includes a person adopted in pursuance of adoption proceedings, a step-child and any child for whom the student has parental responsibility and who is dependant on him;

• “dependant” means, in relation to a student, his dependant child, his spouse or an adult dependant, subject however to sub-paragraphs (2) and (3);

• “income” means income for the year from all sources (reduced by income tax and social security contributions) but disregarding any pension, allowance or other benefit paid by reason of a disability to which the person is subject, paid by any state authority or agency, national, regional or local, by an employer or any former employer, or by any other person, which is not subject to income tax under the Income Tax Acts or, where the income is subject to the tax legislation of another member State, which would not be subject to tax under that legislation if it made provision equivalent to those Acts, and disregarding any benefit or allowance paid to a person for the benefit of a child of his or of whom he has custody or care or for whom he provides accommodation, by any state authority or agency, national, regional or local, and in the case of the student’s spouse—

  (a)

  where the spouse holds an award in respect of a course of teacher training specified in paragraph (c) in the definition of “course of initial teacher training” in regulation 3(1), being a part-time course or a course which is partly full-time and partly part-time, the payments in respect of maintenance made to the spouse in pursuance of regulation 12(1)(b) or (2)(c) or so much of those payments as relates to the part-time part of the course;

  (b)

  where the spouse or the student makes any payment which was previously made by the student in pursuance of an obligation incurred before the first year of his course—

  (i)

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

  (ii)

  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;

  (c)

  any payments made to the spouse in pursuance of an order of a competent court for the benefit of a child who is not his child of whom he has custody or care or for whom he provides accommodation;

• “relevant award” means a statutory award in respect of a person’s attendance at—

  (a)

  a full-time course of higher education or a comparable course outside Northern Ireland;

  (b)

  a course of teacher training specified in paragraph (b) in the definition of “course of initial teacher training” in regulation 3(1);

  (c)

  the full-time part of a course of teacher training specified in paragraph (c) in the definition of “course of initial teacher training” in regulation 3(1), which is partly full-time and partly part-time;

• “spouse”, except in the definition of adult dependant, shall not include a student’s spouse if they have ceased ordinarily to live together whether or not an order for their separation has been made by any court.

(2) A person, including the student’s spouse, shall not be treated as a dependant of the student during any period for which that person—

(a) holds a relevant award; or

(b) (save for the purposes of paragraph 14) is ordinarily living outside the United Kingdom.

(3) A person shall not be treated as a student’s adult dependant or as his dependant child—

(a) in the case of a person other than a child of the student, if his income exceeds by £885 or more the sum specified in paragraph 12(4)(a);

(b) in the case of a child of a student who either has a spouse who is, or but for sub-paragraph (2) would be, his dependant, or has an adult dependant; if the child’s income so exceeds more the some specified in paragraph 12(4)(b) as applicable to his age;

(c) in the case of a child of a student not falling within head (b), unless either—

(i) the child is the only or eldest child dependant on the student whose income does not so exceed the sum specified in paragraph 12(4)(a); or

(ii) the child’s income does not so exceed the sum specified in paragraph 12(4)(b) as applicable to his age.

12.—(1) This paragraph shall apply in the case of all students with dependants.

(2) Subject to paragraphs 13 and 14, the dependants requirement of the student shall be—

(a) if the student’s spouse holds a statutory award and in calculating payments under it account is taken of the spouses dependants requirement, one half of the amount determined in accordance with sub-paragraphs (3) and (4);

(b) in any other case, the whole of the amount so determined.

(3) The amount referred to in sub-paragraph (2) shall be the amount which is

where—

a

X is the aggregate of the relevant sums specified in sub-paragraph (4);

b

Y is the aggregate of the income of the student’s dependants;

c

Z is so much of the sum ascertained by multiplying £885 by the number of his dependants as does not exceed Y.

(4) The relevant sums referred to in sub-paragraph (3) are—

(a) except where the student has a spouse who is the holder of a relevant award, £2,025; and

(b) in respect of each dependant child—

(i) under the age of 11 years immediately before the beginning of the academic year, or born during that year, £425;

(ii) then aged 11 years or over, but under 16, £850;

(iii) then aged 16 years or over, but under 18, £1,120;

(iv) then aged 18 years or over, £1,620,

except that the only or eldest dependant child shall be disregarded for the purposes hereof if the student has neither an adult dependant nor a spouse who is, or but for paragraph 11(2) would be, a dependant.

13.—(1) This paragraph shall apply in the case of a student with dependants who maintains a home for himself and a dependant at a place other than that at which he resides while attending the course.

(2) The student’s dependants requirement (determined in accordance with paragraph 12(2)(a) or (b)) shall be increased by £700.

14.—(1) This paragraph shall apply in the case of a student who maintains a dependant outside the United Kingdom.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing paragraphs of this Part, the student’s dependants requirement shall be such amount, if any, as the board considers reasonable in all the circumstances, not exceeding the amount determined in accordance with those paragraphs.