The Education (Student Support) (Postgraduate Master's Degrees) (Wales) Regulations 2019

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide for the making of grants and loans to students who are ordinarily resident in Wales for postgraduate master's degree courses which begin on or after 1 August 2019.

To qualify for support under these Regulations a student must be an “eligible student”. To be an eligible student, a person must satisfy the eligibility provisions in Chapter 2 of Part 4 and any other eligibility requirements elsewhere in the Regulations. An eligible student must also satisfy the specific requirements applicable to each type of financial support.

To be an eligible student, a person must fall within one of the categories set out in Schedule 2. The majority of those categories require the person to be ordinarily resident in Wales. For the purposes of these Regulations, a person who is ordinarily resident in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man as a result of having moved from one of those areas for the purpose of undertaking a designated course is considered ordinarily resident in the place from which that person has moved (Schedule 2, paragraph 11(1)). A person is not an eligible student if, amongst other things, that person has already obtained a qualification equivalent to or higher than a master's degree.

The period for which a student is eligible to receive support under these Regulations is determined in accordance with regulations 11 to 14. In certain circumstances an eligible student may transfer from one designated course to another.

Support is only available under these Regulations in respect of “designated” courses within the meaning of regulations 5 and 8. Support is provided to eligible students undertaking a designated course wherever they study in the United Kingdom. Regulations 15 and 16 set out the circumstances in which a student may qualify for support under these Regulations after the designated course has started.

Part 5 of these Regulations makes provision for applications for support (regulation 18), time limits for applications (regulation 19) and regulation 20 permits the Welsh Ministers to make such enquiries as they think necessary to make a decision on an application and to notify an applicant of a decision. This Part also imposes obligations on eligible students to provide the Welsh Ministers with information (regulation 22) and to enter into a contract for a loan (regulation 23).

Support under these Regulations is available in the form of the following grants and loans—

(a)

base grant and contribution to costs grant (Part 6);

(b)

contribution to costs loan (Part 7).

The amount of base grant payable to an eligible student is £1,000 (regulation 25). The amount of contribution to costs grant payable to a student is determined by reference to the student's household income and whether they are a care leaver (regulation 27). An eligible student's household income is calculated in accordance with Part 2 of Schedule 3. “Care leaver” is defined in regulation 29.

Contribution to costs loans are payable to eligible students in accordance with Part 7 of these Regulations. The amount of contribution to costs loan is calculated in accordance with regulation 31.

Part 8 of these Regulations makes provision in respect of payments, overpayments and recovery of payments. Regulation 33 gives the Welsh Ministers the power to pay support in instalments.

Regulation 34 provides that the Welsh Ministers must not make any payment of support until they have received confirmation from the relevant academic authority of the student's attendance on the designated course. Regulation 35 enables the Welsh Ministers to cease further payments of support if they receive notice of a student's lack of attendance on the course, other than where they consider it appropriate to make such payments during the student's absence.

Regulation 36 sets out how entitlement to support changes when an eligible student becomes or ceases to be an eligible prisoner.

Chapter 3 of Part 8 sets out how the Welsh Ministers can recover any overpayment of support under these Regulations.

Part 9 sets out information requirements in relation to contribution to costs loans.

Part 10 contains amendments to the Education (Postgraduate Master's Degree Loans) (Wales) Regulations 2017.

Schedule 4 is the final schedule to these Regulations and contains the index of defined terms.

The Welsh Ministers' Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to 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.