The Education (Student Loans) Regulations 1991

Duties of governing bodies in relation to loans

13.—(1) This regulation prescribes the steps to be taken by the governingbody of each institution at which eligible students are attendingcourses for the purposes of, or in connection with, applications forloans.

(2) The governing body shall as soon as practicable after thecommencement of each academic year—

(a) issue to any student on request an eligibility questionnaireprovided by the loans administrator;

(b) in respect of each eligibility questionnaire completed by a studentand returned to them, take such steps as are reasonably practicable toverify the particulars inserted in the questionnaire by the studentrelating to his eligibility for a loan;

(c) if the student’s eligibility cannot be determined solely byverifying the particulars on the questionnaire, take such other steps asare reasonably practicable for that purpose;

(d) issue to each student in relation to whom they have taken the stepsrequired by sub-paragraphs (a)—(c) and whom they consider tobe eligible an eligibility form provided by the loans adminstrator forcompletion by the student;

(e) certify to the best of their knowledge and belief the accuracy ofthe particulars in each completed eligibility form and the amount ofloan to which they consider the student to be entitled;

(f) issue to each student in relation to whom they have taken all othersteps required by the preceding provisions of this paragraph a loanapplication form provided by the loans administrator; and

(g) send each certified eligibility form to the loans administrator.

(3) The governing body shall—

(a) promptly notify the loans administrator in writing if a person inrespect of whom they have certified eligibility in accordance withparagraph (2) ceases to be an eligible student otherwise than because hehas completed the course;

(b) keep records and copies of all documents except loan applicationforms which they are required by this regulation to issue or certify anda record of any steps taken by them to establish a student'seligibility;

(c) permit the loans administrator or the Secretary of State to inspectthe records and copies at any reasonable time and provide them withreasonable facilities for that purpose;

(d) acknowledge receipt of all eligibility and application formsreceived by them from the loans administrator and provide to it onrequest brief particulars of such forms which they have issued; and

(e) as soon as practicable notify the loans administrator in writing ifthey believe that a person has fraudulently obtained or attempted toobtain a loan and provide the administrator with the name of the person(if known) and particulars of the circumstances of that person'sobtaining or attempting to obtain the loan.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of sub-paragraphs (b) and (c) ofparagraph (2), the steps to be taken under those sub-paragraphs shallinclude verifying particulars given in the eligibility questionnaire byreference to—

(a) in the case of a person in respect of whom an entry was made in aregister of births kept in pursuance of the Births and DeathsRegistration Act 1953(1) and the Registration Service Act 1953(2), a certified copy of that entry;

(b) in the case of a person in respect of whom an entry was made in theAdopted Children Register kept in pursuance of section 50 of theAdoption Act 1976(3) which contains a record of the date of birth of theperson, a certified copy of that entry;

(c) in the case of a person in respect of whom an entry was made in aregister of births kept in pursuance of the Registration of Births,Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965(4), an extract of, or an abbreviated certificate of birthrelating to, that entry;

(d) in the case of a person in respect of whom an entry was made in theAdopted Children Register kept in pursuance of Section 45 of theAdoption (Scotland) Act 1978(5) which contains a record of the date of birth of theperson, an extract of that entry; or

(e) in the case of any other person except a refugee, his passport (ifhe holds one), and a letter or other document issued by a responsible personwhich contains particulars of his date, place and country of birth andhis names at birth.

(5) Nothing in this regulation shall require the governing body to takeany steps to establish whether a student falls within sub-paragraph(1)(c), (2)(d) or (2)(e) of regulation 4 (direct credit and debitagreement, breach of loan agreement and minor’s failure to ratify loanagreement), and in considering whether a student is eligible thegoverning body shall disregard those sub-paragraphs.

(6) The governing body shall not be required to take any of the stepsspecified in paragraphs (2) and (4) for the purposes of, or inconnection with, loans in relation to a particular academic year after30th June in the period of 12 months beginning on 1st August in whichthat academic year begins.

(7) In this regulation—

• “eligibility form” means a form requesting particulars from a student relevant to hiseligibility for a loan and of his bank or building society account; and

• “responsible person” means a consular officer, minister of religion, medical or legalpractitioner, established civil servant, teacher or police officer.

(1)

1953 c. 20.

(2)

1953 c. 37.

(3)

1976 c. 36.

(4)

1965 c. 49.

(5)

1978 c. 28.