The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

These Regulations amend the Education (Student Loan) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/470) (“the Principal Regulations”), which make provision for the repayment of income-contingent student loans in England and Wales. The changes are consequential to the change to the threshold at which Scottish student loans are to begin to be repaid.

Regulations 3 amends definitions in the Principal Regulations.

Regulation 4 removes the requirement in regulation 8(1) of the Principal Regulations for consent to be given to notices being sent by electronic format.

Regulation 5 amends regulation 17 of the Principal Regulations to specify that there is an adjustment to a deduction made by an employer under Part 4, the amount deducted is to be deemed received by the authority to whom the repayment is to be made on the day the adjustment is made or, where the adjustment is made outside of the relevant tax year, the last day of the relevant tax year.

Regulation 6 amends regulation 18A of the Principal Regulations which relates to division of repayments when a borrower has more than one type of student loan. With the threshold for Scottish student loans having changed, and a new Scottish student loan plan having been created (which reflects the changes to the terms and conditions relating to loan repayments for existing and future Scottish borrowers), regulation 6 adds into regulation 18A provision as to how repayments are to be divided when one of the student loans is a Scottish student loan. Provision is made for the various different combinations of loan types a borrower might have.

Regulation 7 amends regulation 20A of the Principal Regulations which relates to excess payments where a borrower has more than one type of loan. Regulation 7 adds to the list, in regulation 20A(1), of combinations of student loans a borrower might have, and to which regulation 20A applies, combinations of Scottish student loans with other student loan types.

Regulation 8 amends regulation 23 of the Principal Regulations to allow an information notice to be served electronically.

Regulation 9 amends regulation 24 of the Principal Regulations to allow a penalty notice to be served electronically.

Regulation 10 amends regulation 29 of the Principal Regulations to add provision relating to repayment thresholds for Scottish student loans both when they are the only type of student loan a borrower has and when the borrower has other types as well. It inserts a new paragraph (8B) into regulation 29 providing that the threshold for repayment of Scottish student loan when that is the only student loan a borrower has is that set out in regulation 2 of the Repayment of Student Loans (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (S.S.I. 2000/110) and provides that where someone has a combination of a Scottish student loan and another type of student loan(s), the repayment threshold is either that set out in regulation 29(8B) where the types of loans a borrower has are a Scottish student loan and a post-2012 student loan, or regulation 29(7) in the case of all other combinations of student loan types.

Regulation 11 amends regulation 44 of the Principal Regulations to provide that the default threshold for a Scottish student loan for the purposes of that regulation is the repayment threshold set out in regulation 29(7)(b) or (c).

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to the exercise of the Welsh Ministers’ functions in these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Higher Education Division, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.