15. Regulation 46 (treatment of student loans)(1) shall be amended as follows —
(a)for paragraph (1), substitute —
“(1) A student loan shall be treated as income unless it is a hardship loan, in which case it shall be disregarded.
(1A) For the purposes of paragraph (1) “hardship loan” means a loan made under regulation 21 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2000, regulation 12 of the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 or regulation 21 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000.”;
(b)for paragraph (2), substitute —
“(2) In calculating the weekly amount of the loan to be taken into account as income —
(a)a loan which is payable in respect of a course that is of a single academic year’s duration or less shall be apportioned equally between the weeks in the period beginning with —
(i)the start of the single academic year; or
(ii)where the course is of less than an academic year’s duration, the first day of the course,
and ending with the last day of the course;
(b)a loan which is payable in respect of the final academic year of a course (not being a course of a single year’s duration) shall be apportioned equally between the weeks in the period beginning with the earlier of —
(i)the first day of the first benefit week in September; or
(ii)the first day of the first benefit week following the beginning of the autumn term,
and ending with the last day of the last benefit week before the last day of the course;
(c)in any other case, the loan shall be apportioned equally between the weeks in the period beginning with the earlier of —
(i)the first day of the first benefit week in September; or
(ii)the first day of the first benefit week following the beginning of the autumn term,
and ending with the last day of the last benefit week in June, and in all cases, from the weekly amount so apportioned there shall be disregarded £10.”.
(c)in paragraph (5) —
(i)in sub-paragraph (a), for “250” substitute “£255”, and
(ii)in sub-paragraph (b), for “£303” substitute “£311”.
Regulation 46 was amended by S.I. 2000/973(W.43).