The Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges (Amendment No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (“the principal Regulations”), to take account of changes to the provision of financial support to students made by the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (“the 2006 N.I. Regulations”), Education (Student Support) Regulations 2006 (“the 2006 England Regulations”) and the Assembly Learning Grants and Loans (Higher Education) (Wales) Regulations 2006 (“the 2006 Welsh Regulations”) and the consequential changes to the way in which a student’s entitlement to income support will be calculated.

In calculating a person’s resources and requirements under the principal Regulations in order to establish whether a person can claim entitlement to the remission of Health Service charges and the payment of Health Service travel expenses, a modified version of the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 is used as set out in Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations.

These Regulations further modify Schedule 1 to provide:

- that any grant income a student has is apportioned over a 52 week period, rather than over the period of study in any one year, except in the final year of study or during a one year course when the period of study is the relevant period, or when the student is on a sandwich course;

-that any sum in excess of the sum set out as the maintenance grant amount in paragraphs (b), (c) or (d) of regulation 57(4) of the 2006 N.I. Regulations (the amounts of which will differ according to the level of maintenance grant a student qualifies for under the 2006 N.I. Regulations) paid as part of a maintenance grant under regulation 49 of those Regulations should be disregarded in the calculation of a student’s grant income;

- that any sum in excess of the sum set out in regulation 57(4)(b) of the 2006 England Regulations paid as part of a maintenance grant pursuant to regulation 48 of those Regulations should be disregarded in the calculation of a student’s grant income;

-that any sum in excess of the sum set out in regulation 33(4)(b) of the 2006 Welsh Regulations paid as part of a maintenance grant pursuant to regulation 29 of those Regulations should be disregarded in the calculation of a student’s grant income; and

- that any loan paid under regulation 10 of the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 should be disregarded in the calculation of a student’s loan income.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this rule as it has no impact on the costs of business, charities or voluntary bodies.