The requirements referred to in regulation 13(1)(a) shall include the student’s requirements for the maintenance of dependants during the year and the amount of any such requirement (“dependants requirement”) shall be determined in accordance with this Part.

Where a student’s requirements for the maintenance of dependants are different in respect of different parts of a year, his dependants requirement for that year shall be the aggregate of the proportionate parts of those differing requirements.

In this Part—

• “adult dependant” means, in relation to a student, an adult person dependent on the student not being his child, his spouse or a person living with him as his spouse or his former spouse, subject however to sub-paragraphs (2) and (3);

• “child”, in relation to a student, includes a person whether under or over compulsory school age, an illegitimate child, a person adopted in pursuance of adoption proceedings, a step-child and any child whose guardian or custodian the student is and who is dependent on him;

• “dependant” means, in relation to a student, his dependent child, his spouse or an adult dependant, subject however to sub-paragraphs (2) and (3);

• “income” means income for the year from all sources less—

  1. a

     income tax, social security contributions and child benefit;

  2. b

     any attendance allowance under section 35 or mobility allowance under section 37A of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 197523, or any mobility supplement provided for in an order made under section 12(1) of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 197724;

  3. c

     in the case of the student’s spouse, where she or the student makes any payment which was previously made by him in pursuance of an obligation incurred before the first year of his course—

     1. i

        if, in the opinion of the board, the obligation had been reasonably so incurred, an amount equal to the payment in question;

     2. ii

        if, in its opinion, only a lesser obligation could have been reasonably so incurred, such correspondingly lesser amount (if any) as appears to it appropriate; and

  4. d

     in the case of the student’s spouse, where a child in the care of the Department of Health and Social Services or a Health and Social Services Board is boarded out with her, any payment made to her in pursuance of section 114(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 196825; and

  5. e

     in the case of the student’s spouse, any guardian’s allowance to which she is entitled under section 38 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 197526;

• “relevant award” means a statutory award in respect of a person’s attendance at a full-time course of higher education or a comparable course outside Northern Ireland;

• “spouse”, except in the definition of adult dependant, shall not include a student’s spouse if they have ceased ordinarily to live together whether or not an order for their separation has been made by any court.

This paragraph shall apply in the case of all students with dependants.

The amount referred to in sub-paragraph (2) shall be the amount which is

X-(Y-Z)

This paragraph shall apply in the case of a student with dependants who maintains a home for himself and a dependant at a place other than that at which he resides while attending the course.

The student’s dependants requirement (determined in accordance with paragraph 14(2)(a) or 14(2)(b)) shall be increased by £570.

This paragraph shall apply in the case of a student who maintains a dependant outside the United Kingdom.

Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing paragraphs of this Part, the student’s dependants requirement shall be such amount, if any, as the board considers reasonable in all the circumstances, not exceeding the amount determined in accordance with those paragraphs.