These Regulations further amend the Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (“the principal Regulations”), which provide for remission and payment of certain charges which would otherwise be payable under the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 and for payment by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety of travelling expenses incurred in attending a hospital for, amongst others, persons on low incomes, by reference to limits on their income and capital (“the low income scheme”).

In calculating a person’s resources and requirements under the principal Regulations in order to establish whether a person can claim entitlement to remission of Health Service charges and the payment of Health Services travelling 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.

Regulation 2 amends the modifications in Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations to update the references to student funding under the Assembly Learning Grants and Loans (Higher Education) (Wales) Regulations 2011. These set out the entitlement to grants and loans available to students. Certain of the amounts of student maintenance grants are disregarded in calculating the entitlement of students to remission of Health Service charges and the payment of Health Services travelling expenses under the principal Regulations.

Regulation 2 also amends the reference to the publication which describes additional loans paid under the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2007. These loans are disregarded in the calculation of a student’s loan income when a person’s entitlement to remission of Health Service charges and payment of Health Services travelling expenses is being established under the principal Regulations.