The Social Security (Income and Capital) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020

Amendment of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

8.—(1) The Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016(1) are amended as follows.

(2) In regulation 68 (person treated as having student income)—

(a) in paragraphs (1), after “a student loan” insert “, a postgraduate loan”;

(b) in paragraph (2), after “a student loan” insert “ or a postgraduate loan”;

(c) in paragraph (5) —

(i) after “a student loan” insert “ or a postgraduate loan”, and

(ii) for “such a loan” substitute “a student loan or postgraduate loan”;

(d) in paragraph (7), after the definition of “long vacation” insert—

““postgraduate loan” means a loan to a student undertaking a postgraduate master’s degree course or a postgraduate doctoral degree course pursuant to regulations made under section 22 of the Teachers Higher Education Act 1998;”.

(3) In regulation 69 (calculation of student income – student loans)—

(a) at the end of the heading insert “and postgraduate loans”;

(b) after paragraph (1) insert—

“(1A) Where, in accordance with regulation 68(2), a person’s student income is to be based on the amount of a postgraduate loan for a year, the amount to be taken into account is 30 per cent. of the maximum postgraduate loan that the person would be able to acquire by taking reasonable steps to do so.”.

(c) in paragraph (2), after “paragraph (1)” insert “or the maximum postgraduate loan in paragraph (1A)”.

(4) In regulation 71(calculation of student income – amount for an assessment period), in Step 1—

(a) in paragraph (a) for “if regulation 68(2)applies (person with a student loan)” substitute “in so far as regulation 68(2) applies to a person with a student loan,”;

(b) at the end of paragraph (a) omit “or”;

(c) after paragraph (a) insert—

“(aa) in so far as regulation 68(2) applies to a person with a postgraduate loan, 30 per cent. of the amount of the loan in relation to the year of the course in which the assessment period falls; or”;

(d) in paragraph (b), after “student loan” insert “or postgraduate loan”.

(5) In regulation 76 (special schemes for compensation etc)—

(a) in paragraph (1)(a)—

(i) at the end of head (v), omit “or”, and

(ii) after head (v) insert—

“(vi) the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14th June 2017; or”.

(b) after paragraph (1) insert—

“(1A) This regulation also applies where a person receives a payment from—

(a) the National Emergences Trust, registered charity number 1182809;

(b) the Child Migrants Trust, registered charity number 1171479;

(c) the Royal Borough of Kensington or Chelsea or a registered charity where the payment is made because a person was affected by the Grenfell Tower on 14th June 2017 or is a personal representative of such a person.”.

(6) In regulation 88 (claimants subject to no work-related requirements), after paragraph (3) insert—

“(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(e)(ii), a claimant is not to be treated as having student income where—

(a) that income is a postgraduate loan; and

(b) the course in respect of which the loan is paid is not a full-time course.

(5) In paragraph (4), “postgraduate loan” has the meaning given in regulation 68(7).”.

(1)

S.R. 2016 No.216; relevant amending Regulations is S.R. 2018 No. 92