PART 3MAKING OF GRANTS AND REMISSION OF CHARGES
Qualifying charges and grants
14.—(1) This Part applies to the making of grants and remission of charges in respect of an aided pupil.
(2) The school must make grants in respect of school travel expenditure (“travel grants”) and school clothing expenditure (“clothing grants”) and remit charges in respect of meals and participation in field study courses, in accordance with this Part.
(3) The applicant is only entitled to a grant or remission of charges in respect of the period during which the child holds an aided place.
(4) In this Part—
“clothing expenditure” has the meaning given by paragraph 16(1);
“field study course” has the meaning given by paragraph 23; and
“school travel expenditure” has the meaning given by paragraph 17.
Remission of charges for meals (day pupils)
15.—(1) In relation to an aided pupil who is a day pupil at the school, the school must remit the whole of any charges for meals if they are satisfied that the applicant is in receipt of—
(a)income support under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(1);
(b)income-based jobseeker’s allowance (payable under the Jobseekers Act 1995(2));
(c)an income-related allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007(3) (employment and support allowance);
(d)child tax credit under Part 1 of the Tax Credits Act 2002(4) in the circumstances set out in sub-paragraph (2); or
(e)universal credit (payable under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012)(5).
(2) The circumstances referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(d) are that the applicant—
(a)is in receipt of an award of child tax credit which is based on the relevant income not exceeding the amount determined for the purposes of section 7(1)(a) of the Tax Credits Act 2002 as the income threshold for child tax credit(6); and
(b)is not in receipt of an award of working tax credit under Part 1 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 except where—
(i)the award is based on an annual income not exceeding the amount determined for the purposes of section 7(1)(a) of the Tax Credits Act 2002 as the income threshold for working tax credit(7); or
(ii)the applicant is treated as being engaged in qualifying remunerative work (within the meaning of the Tax Credits Act 2002) by virtue of regulation 7D of the Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002(8).
(3) The school must remit charges for meals if the school is satisfied of the matters in sub-paragraph (1), as follows—
(a)for the whole of the school year if the school is so satisfied in the month preceding the commencement of that school year; or
(b)for the remainder of the school year if the school is so satisfied during the course of that school year even if the applicant then ceases to be in receipt of the benefits specified in sub-paragraph (1) before the end of that school year.
Clothing grants
16.—(1) In this paragraph, “clothing expenditure” means expenditure on items of clothing (including sports clothing) to be worn by an aided pupil either at school or for the purposes of school activities, which the school is satisfied—
(a)has been incurred by the applicant; or
(b)is about to be incurred by the applicant and would cause financial hardship without payment of a clothing grant.
(2) The school must only pay a clothing grant to the applicant if the aided pupil has not attended the school prior to holding an aided place.
(3) In an aided pupil’s first year at the school, clothing grant is payable if the relevant income does not exceed £16,610 and must be of an amount equal to that part of the clothing expenditure that does not exceed the maximum amount specified in column (2) of the following table in relation to the corresponding relevant income mentioned in column (1) of that table—
| (1) | (2) |
|---|---|
| Relevant income | Maximum amount of clothing grant |
| Does not exceed £14,583 | £253 |
| Exceeds £14,583 but does not exceed £15,264 | £189 |
| Exceeds £15,264 but does not exceed £15,917 | £125 |
| Exceeds £15,917 but does not exceed £16,610 | £62 |
(4) Clothing grant payable under sub-paragraph (3) may be paid during the school year referred to in that sub-paragraph or in the two months immediately preceding that year.
(5) In all other cases, clothing grant is payable if the relevant income does not exceed £15,917 and must be of an amount equal to that part of the clothing expenditure for which a clothing grant has not already been made and that does not exceed the maximum amount specified in column (2) of the following table in relation to the corresponding relevant income mentioned in column (1) of that table—
| (1) | (2) |
|---|---|
| Relevant income | Maximum amount of clothing grant |
| Does not exceed £14,797 | £98 |
| Exceeds £14,797 but does not exceed £15,917 | £52 |
School travel expenditure
17. Paragraphs 18 to 21 apply to the making of grants for the aggregate expenses incurred for an aided pupil’s journeys to and from the school—
(a)by public transport, including by train, bus, boat, hovercraft or air services available to the public;
(b)by transport provided at the request of the school with the approval of the Scottish Ministers;
(c)by transport provided by an education authority; or
(d)by any combination of the above.
Travel grants (boarders)
18.—(1) This paragraph applies in relation to an aided pupil who is a boarder at the school.
(2) The school must pay a travel grant to the applicant in relation to school travel expenditure reasonably incurred in that school year for twelve single journeys made to or from the school in that year by the aided pupil to visit an applicant or other relative.
(3) If school travel expenditure is incurred for the following journeys, travel grant is not payable in respect of the excess—
(a)by public transport in excess of what would have been incurred had advantage been taken of available arrangements for reduced or concessionary fares;
(b)by air in excess of what would have been incurred had advantage been taken of available train, boat or hovercraft services and arrangements for reduced or concessionary fares;
(c)to a place other than the aided pupil’s home in excess of what would have been incurred if the visit had been to the aided pupil’s home; and
(d)to a place outside the British Islands, in which case, school travel expenditure between a port, hoverport or airport within the British Islands and that place is to be treated as an excess.
Travel grants (day pupils)
19.—(1) This paragraph applies in relation to an aided pupil who is a day pupil at the school.
(2) If the walking distance between an aided pupil’s home and the school exceeds 4.8 kilometres, the school must pay a travel grant to the applicant for school travel expenditure reasonably incurred in that school year for journeys between the aided pupil’s home and the school in that year.
(3) If school travel expenditure is incurred for such a journey by public transport in excess of what would have been incurred had advantage been taken of available arrangements for season tickets or reduced or concessionary fares, travel grant is not payable in respect of the excess.
(4) If school travel expenditure is incurred for such a return journey in excess of 80.4 kilometres by any of the forms of transport mentioned in paragraph 17, a travel grant must only be paid for the proportion of the expenditure equivalent to the proportion of that journey that is constituted by 80.4 kilometres.
(5) Such a return journey is to be measured with reference to the shortest available route between the aided pupil’s home and the school.
Travel grants (travel to universities, etc.)
20.—(1) A travel grant is payable in relation to school travel expenditure reasonably incurred for journeys within the British Islands made by an aided pupil in that school year between an aided pupil’s home or the school and a university, college or other establishment of further education at the invitation of the establishment with a view to being admitted to that establishment for the purpose of further education.
(2) In a particular school year, a travel grant is payable in respect of a maximum of three such journeys from the school or aided pupil’s home and three such journeys from the establishment.
Amount of travel grants
21.—(1) If the relevant income in a particular year does not exceed £14,821, a travel grant must be of an amount equal to the school travel expenditure to which it relates.
(2) In any other case, the travel grant must be of the amount, if any, by which the school travel expenditure to which it relates exceeds the amount (rounded down to the nearest multiple of £3) equal to one-twelfth of that part of the relevant income which exceeds £14,583.
(3) Travel grants may be paid in the course of, or immediately before, a school year, on account of the grant which it appears to the school will be payable for that year.
(4) Any overpayment or underpayment of travel grant for a particular school year must be adjusted by payments between the applicant and the school within three months of the final determination of the amount.
Entitlement to and extent of remissions and grants
22.—(1) Questions about whether or not an applicant is entitled to remission of charges for meals, clothing grants, or travel grants are to be determined in the same manner as remission questions under paragraph 7.
(2) However, paragraph 7(3) does not apply to clothing grants where the child is an aided pupil for only part of the school year or the number of aided pupils who are children of the applicant changes throughout the school year.
(3) In addition, paragraphs 7(2), 8, 9, 10 and 11 and Part 4 apply for the purposes of paragraphs 14 to 21 as if any references in those provisions to—
(a)“remission of fees” are references to the grants and remission of charges for meals mentioned in sub-paragraph (1); and
(b)“remission questions” are references to the questions mentioned in sub-paragraph (1).
Remission of charges for field study courses
23.—(1) In this paragraph, a “field study course” means a course of field study (provided by the school or otherwise) which forms a compulsory part of a course of education at the school for any examination conducted by the Scottish Qualifications Authority or other comparable examination in any subject provided by the school (a “relevant public examination”).
(2) Charges by the school for the participation by an aided pupil in a field study course must be remitted.
(3) The remission of charges for a field study course must only be remitted if—
(a)the aided pupil is a candidate or prospective candidate for a relevant public examination; and
(b)the applicant is entitled in accordance with Part 3 of this Scheme to remission of fees in whole or in part for the school year in which the field study course is held.
1992 c.4; section 124 (which provides for income support) was amended by section 41 of and Schedules 2 and 3 to the Jobseekers Act 1995 (c.18); section 70 of and Schedule 8 to the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 (c.30); Schedules 2 and 3 to the State Pension Credit Act 2002 (c.16)); Schedule 24 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c.33); Schedules 3 and 8 to the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (c.5); section 3 of the Welfare Reform Act 2009 (c.24) and Schedule 14 to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (c.5) with effect from 1st April 2013 subject to savings and transitional provisions specified in S.I. 2013/358.
The income threshold for child tax credit was determined for the purposes of section 7(1)(a) of the Tax Credits Act 2002 by S.I. 2002/2008, as relevantly amended by S.I. 2015/451.
The income threshold for working tax credit was determined for the purposes of section 7(1)(a) of the Tax Credits Act 2002 by S.I. 2002/2008, as relevantly amended by S.I. 2008/796.
S.I. 2002/2005; regulation 7D was inserted by S.I. 2007/968, substituted by S.I. 2009/1829 and amended by S.I. 2012/848.