The Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Prospective

Interpretation N.I.

50.—(1) In this Part—

“academic year” means the period of 12 months beginning on 1st January, 1st April, 1st July or 1st September according to whether the course in question begins in the winter, the spring, the summer or the autumn respectively but if students are required to begin attending the course during August or September and to continue attending through the autumn, the academic year of the course shall be considered to begin in the autumn rather than the summer;

“access funds” means—

(a)

grants made under Article 30 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1993(1) or grants, loans or other payments made under Article 5 of the Further Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997(2) in each case being grants, or grants, loans or other payments as the case may be, for the purpose of assisting students in financial difficulties;

(b)

grants made under section 68 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992(3) for the purpose of providing funds on a discretionary basis to be paid to students;

(c)

grants made under sections 73(a) and (c) and 74(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980(4);

(d)

discretionary payments, known as “learner support funds”, which are made available to students in further education by institutions out of funds provided by the Learning and Skills Council for England under sections 5, 6 and 9 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000(5); or

(e)

Financial Contingency Funds made available by the National Assembly for Wales;

“contribution” means any contribution in respect of the income of a student or of any other person which the Department, the Scottish Ministers or an education authority takes into account in ascertaining the amount of the student’s grant or student loan, or any sums, which in determining the amount of a student’s allowance or bursary in Scotland under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992(6), the Scottish Ministers or the education authority takes into account being sums which the Scottish Ministers or the education authority consider that the holder of the allowance or bursary, the holder’s parents and the holder’s spouse or civil partner can reasonably be expected to contribute towards the holder’s expenses;

“course of study” means any course of study, whether or not it is a sandwich course and whether or not a grant is made for undertaking or attending it;

“covenant income” means the gross income payable to a full-time student under a Deed of Covenant by his parent;

“education authority” means a government department, an education and library board established under Article 3 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986(7), a local education authority specified in section 12 of the Education Act 1996(8), a local education authority as defined in section 123 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973(9), any body which is a research council for the purposes of the Science and Technology Act 1965(10) or any analogous government department, authority, board or body, of the Channel Islands, Isle of Man or any other country outside the United Kingdom;

“full-time student” includes a student on a sandwich course;

“grant” (except in the definition of “access funds”) means any kind of educational grant or award and includes any scholarship, studentship, exhibition, allowance or bursary but does not include a payment from access funds or any payment to which paragraph 12 of Schedule 6 or paragraph 50 of Schedule 7 applies;

“grant income” means—

(a)

any income by way of a grant;

(b)

any contribution whether or not it is paid;

“last day of the course” means—

(a)

in the case of a qualifying course, the date on which the last day of that course falls or the date on which the final examination relating to that course is completed, whichever is the later;

(b)

in any other case, the date on which the last day of the final academic term falls in respect of the course in which the student is enrolled;

“period of study” means—

(a)

in the case of a course of study for one year or less, the period beginning with the start of the course and ending with the last day of the course;

(b)

in the case of a course of study for more than one year, in the first or, as the case may be, any subsequent year of the course, other than the final year of the course, the period beginning with the start of the course or, as the case may be, that year’s start and ending with either—

(i)

in a case where the student’s grant or loan is assessed at a rate appropriate to his studying throughout the year, or, if he does not have a grant or loan, where a loan would have been assessed at such a rate had he had one, the day before the start of the next year of the course, or

(ii)

in any other case, the day before the start of the recognised summer vacation appropriate to his course;

(c)

in the final year of a course of study of more than one year, the period beginning with that year’s start and ending with the last day of the course;

“periods of experience” means periods of work experience which form part of a sandwich course;

“qualifying course” means a qualifying course as defined for the purposes of Parts II and IV of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations;

“sandwich course” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 2(6) of the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005(11), regulation 2(6) of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2005(12) or regulation 5(2) of the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2000(13) as the case may be;

“standard maintenance grant” means—

(a)

except where paragraph (b) or (c) applies, in the case of a student attending or undertaking a course of study at the University of London or an establishment within the area comprising the City of London and the Metropolitan Police District, the amount specified for the time being in paragraph 2(2)(a) of Schedule 6 to the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003(14) (“the 2003 Regulations”) for such a student;

(b)

except where paragraph (c) applies, in the case of a student residing at his parent’s home, the amount specified in paragraph 3 thereof;

(c)

in the case of a student receiving an allowance or bursary under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, the amount of money specified as “standard maintenance allowance” for the relevant year appropriate for the student set out in the Student Support in Scotland Guide issued by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland(15), or its nearest equivalent in the case of a bursary provided by a college of further education or a local education authority and paid under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992;

(d)

in any other case, the amount specified in paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 6 to the 2003 Regulations other than in head (a) or (b) thereof;

“student” means a person, other than a person in receipt of a training allowance, who is attending or undertaking—

(a)

a course of study at an educational establishment; or

(b)

a qualifying course;

“student loan” means a loan towards a student’s maintenance pursuant to any regulations made under Article 3 of the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998(16), section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998(17) or section 73 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and shall include, in Scotland, a young student’s bursary paid under regulation 4(1)(c) of the Students’ Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1999(18).

(2) For the purposes of the definition of “full-time student” in paragraph (1), a person shall be regarded as attending or, as the case may be, undertaking a full-time course of study or as being on a sandwich course—

(a) subject to paragraph (3), in the case of a person attending or undertaking a part of a modular course which would be a full-time course of study for the purposes of this Part, for the period beginning on the day on which that part of the course starts and ending—

(i) on the last day on which he is registered with the educational establishment as attending or undertaking that part as a full-time course of study, or

(ii) on such earlier date (if any) as he finally abandons the course or is dismissed from it;

(b) in any other case, throughout the period beginning on the date on which he starts attending or undertaking the course and ending on the last day of the course or on such earlier date (if any) as he finally abandons it or is dismissed from it.

(3) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (2), the period referred to in that sub-paragraph shall include—

(a) where a person has failed examinations or has failed to successfully complete a module relating to a period when he was attending or undertaking a part of the course as a full-time course of study, any period in respect of which he attends or undertakes the course for the purpose of retaking those examinations or that module;

(b) any period of vacation within the period specified in that paragraph or immediately following that period except where the person has registered with the educational establishment to attend or undertake the final module in the course and the vacation immediately follows the last day on which he is required to attend or undertake the course.

(4) In paragraph (2), “modular course” means a course of study which consists of 2 or more modules, the successful completion of a specified number of which is required before a person is considered by the educational establishment to have completed the course.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 50 in operation at 20.11.2006, see reg. 1(1)

(1)

S.I. 1993/2810 (N.I. 12)

(2)

S.I. 1997/1772 (N.I. 15)

(3)

1992 c. 13

(4)

1980 c. 44; the functions of the Secretary of State were transferred to Scottish Ministers by virtue of section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46)

(5)

2000 c. 21

(6)

1992 c. 37

(7)

S.I. 1986/594 (N.I. 3)

(8)

1996 c. 56

(9)

1973 c. 65

(10)

1965 c. 4

(11)

S.R. 2005 No. 340

(12)

S.I. 2005/52

(13)

S.S.I. 2000/200

(14)

S.R. 2003 No. 459

(15)

The relevant leaflets are SAS2 and SAS4

(16)

S.I. 1998/1760 (N.I. 14)

(17)

1998 c. 30

(18)

S.I. 1999/1131 (S. 91)