The Education (Student Support) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (Student Support) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017.

(2) Regulation 12 comes into operation on 28th April 2017.

(3) All other provisions of these Regulations come into operation on 20th March 2017.

(4) These Regulations, apart from this regulation and regulation 13, apply in relation to the provision of support to students in relation to an academic year which begins on or after 1st September 2017 whether anything done under these Regulations is done before, on or after 1st September 2017.

Amendment of the Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

2.  The Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009(1) are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 15.

3.  In regulation 2(1) (Interpretation)—

(a) in the definition of “Erasmus year”—

(i) in sub-paragraph (b), omit “or Scotland”;

(ii) in sub-paragraph (c), for “or Wales”, substitute “, Scotland or Wales”;

(b) after the definition of “long courses loan”, insert—

““non-regulated institution” means an institution in Wales that does not have a fee and access plan in force approved by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales under section 7 of the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015(2);”;

(c) for the definition of “ordinary duration”, substitute—

““ordinary duration” means the number of academic years that a standard student would take to complete the course excluding any academic years of the course that are—

(a)

bursary years;

(b)

Erasmus years of a course provided by an institution in Northern Ireland; or

(c)

Erasmus years of a course provided by an institution in England, Scotland or Wales where the course began before 1st September 2012;

(d)

Erasmus years of a course provided by an institution in Scotland where the course began on or after 1st September 2012 and where the Erasmus year begins before 1st August 2017;”;

(d) after the definition of “refugee”, insert—

““regulated institution” means an institution that has a fee and access plan in force approved by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales under section 7 of the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015;”;

(e) in the definition of “standard academic year”—

(i) in sub-paragraph (b), omit “or Scotland”;

(ii) in sub-paragraph (c), for “or Wales”, substitute “, Scotland or Wales”;

(iii) after sub-paragraph (c), insert—

“(d) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in Scotland where the course began on or after 1st September 2012 and where the Erasmus year begins before 1st August 2017;”.

4.  In regulation 6(1) (Designated courses), for sub-paragraph (e), substitute—

“(e) (i) wholly provided by an authority-funded institution in Northern Ireland, England, or Scotland, or in Wales where the course begins before 1st September 2017;

(ii) provided by a publicly funded institution in the United Kingdom on behalf of an authority-funded institution in Northern Ireland, England, or Scotland, or in Wales where the course begins before 1st September 2017;

(iii) provided by an authority-funded institution in Northern Ireland, England, or Scotland, or in Wales where the course begins before 1st September 2017, in conjunction with an institution outside the United Kingdom;

(iv) provided by a regulated institution in Wales or a regulated institution in Wales in conjunction with an institution outside the United Kingdom, where the course begins on or after 1st September 2017; or

(v) provided by a relevant institution of higher education in the Republic of Ireland or by a relevant institution of higher education in the Republic of Ireland in conjunction with an institution outside the Republic of Ireland.””.

5.  In regulation 20 (Availability of fee loans to current system students)—

(a) in paragraph (3)(a)(ii), omit “or Scotland”;

(b) in paragraph (3)(a)(iii), for “or Wales”, substitute “, Wales or Scotland”;

(c) in paragraph (8)(b), omit “or Scotland”;

(d) in paragraph (8)(c), for “or Wales”, substitute “, Wales or Scotland”;

(e) in paragraph (8A), omit “or Scotland”;

(f) in paragraph (9)(b), omit “or Scotland”;

(g) in paragraph (9)(c), for “or Wales”, substitute “, Wales or Scotland”;

(h) in paragraph (9A), omit “or Scotland”.

6.  In regulation 25 (Amount of the fee loan)—

(a) in paragraph (1), for “provided by or on behalf of a publicly funded institution” substitute “mentioned in paragraph (2C)”;

(b) in paragraph (2), for “provided by or on behalf of a publicly funded institution” substitute “mentioned in paragraph (2C)”;

(c) in paragraph (2A), for “provided by a private institution (other than on behalf of a publicly funded institution)” substitute “mentioned in paragraph (2D)”;

(d) in paragraph (2B), for “provided by a private institution (other than on behalf of a publicly funded institution)” substitute “mentioned in paragraph (2D)”;

(e) after paragraph (2B), insert-

“(2C) The designated courses for the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2) are designated courses:-

(a) provided by or on behalf of a publicly funded institution in Northern Ireland, England or Scotland;

(b) provided by or on behalf of a publicly funded institution in Wales, where the course began before 1st September 2017;

(c) provided by or on behalf of a regulated institution in Wales, where the course begins on or after 1st September 2017.

(2D) The designated courses for the purposes of paragraphs (2A) and (2B) are designated courses:-

(a) provided by a private institution (other than on behalf of a publicly funded institution) in Northern Ireland, England or Scotland;

(b) provided by a private institution (other than on behalf of a publicly funded institution) in Wales, where the course began before 1st September 2017;

(c) provided by a non-regulated institution (other than on behalf of a regulated institution) in Wales, where the course begins on or after 1st September 2017.”

(f) after paragraph (10), insert—

“(11) Where the circumstances in paragraph (12) apply, the amount of a fee loan must not exceed the lesser of—

(a) £1,385; and

(b) the fees payable by the student in connection with that year.

(12) This paragraph applies in respect of an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in England, Wales or Scotland which begins on or after 1st September 2017.”.

7.  In regulation 109 (Support for distance learning courses), after paragraph (4A) insert—

“(4B) Paragraphs (4) and (4A) do not apply to a person who is treated as being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom by virtue of paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 2 on the basis of temporary employment falling within paragraph 1(5)(a) of that Schedule.”.

8.  In regulation 112 (Disabled distance learning students’ allowance), after paragraph (4A), insert—

“(4B) Paragraphs (4) and (4A) do not apply to a person who is treated as being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom by virtue of paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 2 on the basis of temporary employment falling within paragraph 1(5)(a) of that Schedule.”.

9.  In regulation 126 (Assistance for part-time courses), after paragraph (3B), insert—

“(3C) Paragraphs (3A) and (3B) do not apply to a person who is treated as being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom by virtue of paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 2 on the basis of temporary employment falling within paragraph 1(5)(a) of that Schedule.”.

10.  In regulation 130 (Disabled part-time students’ allowance), after paragraph (3), insert—

“(3A) Paragraph (3) does not apply to a person who is treated as being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom by virtue of paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 2 on the basis of temporary employment falling within paragraph 1(5)(a) of that Schedule.”.

11.  In regulation 139 (Eligible postgraduate students), after paragraph (8), insert—

“(8A) Paragraph (8) does not apply to a person who is treated as being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom by virtue of paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 2 on the basis of temporary employment falling within paragraph 1(5)(a) of that Schedule.”.

12.  In regulation 149 (Eligible Master’s, etc. Students), after paragraph (14), insert—

“(14A) Paragraphs (13) and (14) do not apply to a person who is treated as being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom by virtue of paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 2 on the basis of temporary employment falling within paragraph 1(5)(a) of that Schedule.”.

13.  In Schedule 5 (Financial assessment)—

(a) in paragraph 4(3), for head (b), substitute—

“(b) otherwise the value of the sterling which the income would purchase using the average rate published by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for the calendar year which ends before the start of the relevant year.”;

(b) in paragraph 5, for sub-paragraph (7), substitute—

“(7) Where A’s income is computed as for the purposes of the income tax legislation of another Member State, it is computed under the provisions of this Schedule in the currency of that Member State and A’s income for the purposes of this Schedule is the sterling value of that income determined in accordance with the average rate published by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for the calendar year which ends before the end of the prior financial year.”.

14.  In Schedule 6 (Relevant Institutions of Higher Education in the Republic of Ireland), omit “St Patrick’s College, Thurles”.

15.  The Schedule to these Regulations has effect to substitute the figure in the third column of the table for the figure in the second column where that figure appears in the regulation of the Education (Student Support) (No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 set out in the first column.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for the Economy on 27th February 2017.

Mr Trevor Cooper

A senior officer of the Department for the Economy