(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations, which come into force on 1st September 2000, further amend the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2000 (“the Student Support Regulations”).
Regulation 3(1) introduces a definition of end-on courses. These are, broadly, certain higher education courses which a student attends immediately following a course for the Diploma of Higher Education, the Higher National Diploma or Higher National Certificate, or a first degree course including a course for the initial training of teachers leading to a first degree.
The following provisions of the Student Support Regulations, which apply to students by reference to whether the first academic year of their course begins either before, or on or after, 1st September 2000, are amended so that they do not affect students attending an end-on course. Firstly, regulation 15(10) of the Student Support Regulations is amended so that a student who is aged 25 or over on the first day of the academic year is not eligible for a dependant’s grant in respect of a person living with him as his spouse where he attends an end-on course beginning on or after 1st September 2000 (regulation 6). Secondly, paragraph 6(2) (aa) of Schedule 3 to the Student Support Regulations (deduction, where the student’s course began before 1st September 2000, of loan interest payments on which relief is given under the Income Tax Acts) is amended so that the relevant deduction from a parent’s gross income also applies in respect of a student attending an end-on course beginning on or after 1st September 2000 (regulation 9(3)). Thirdly, paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 to the Student Support Regulations is amended so that no spouse’s contribution applies to a student aged 25 or over on the first day of the academic year in respect of a person living with him as his spouse where the student attends an end-on course beginning on or after 1st September 2000 (regulation 9(4)).
Regulation 10(4)(a) of the Student Support Regulations is amended to include a further exception, in respect of a relevant course for the initial training of teachers, to the provision that a student is not generally eligible for support where he has previously attended a publicly funded course at an institution in the United Kingdom (regulation 4).
Regulation 5 amends regulation 12(3)(a) of the Student Support Regulations (exception to ineligibility for grant for living costs for sandwich course students undertaking specified unpaid service) to include unpaid service with a primary care trust.
Regulation 6 amends the definition of “child” in regulation 15(10) of the Student Support Regulations so as to include any child of a student’s partner, as defined in regulation 6, who is dependent on the student. This applies to a student who is aged 25 or over on the first day of the academic year where the student’s course, not being an end-on course, begins on or after 1st September 2000.
Regulation 16 of the Student Support Regulations is amended so that a grant for meals applies, where the dependent child is aged three or four, whether or not that child attends a school (regulation 7).
Regulation 21 of the Student Support Regulations (hardship loans) is amended so that, where the amount of hardship loan for which a student was determined to be eligible under a first determination is less than £500, he may make one further application for a hardship loan in accordance with the requirements of the regulation, subject to an overall maximum of £500 (regulation 8).
Paragraph 1(1)(d) of Schedule 3 to the Student Support Regulations is amended to extend the disregard for grants to students to facilitate teacher training, in calculating their income, to payments in respect of such training by institutions which receive funding under section 5 of the Education Act 1994 (regulation 9(1)).