The Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Chapter IX Full-Time Students

Interpretation

130.  In this Chapter—

“contribution” means any contribution in respect of the income of any other person which the Department or an education authority takes into account in ascertaining the amount of the student’s grant, or any sums, which in determining the amount of a student’s allowance or bursary in Scotland in terms of the Student’s Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1991(1) or the Education Authority (Bursaries) (Scotland) Regulations 1995(2), the Secretary of State or education authority takes into account being sums which the Secretary of State or the education authority consider that the holder of the allowance or bursary, the holder’s parents and the holders spouse can reasonably be expected to contribute towards the holder’s expenses;

“covenant income” means the income payable to a student under a Deed of Covenant by a person whose income is, or is likely to be, taken into account in assessing the student’s grant or award;

“education authority” means a government department, an education and library board established under Article 3 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986(3), a local education authority as defined in section 114(1) of the Education Act 1944(4) (interpretation), an education authority as defined in section 123 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973(5), any body which is a research council for the purposes of the Science and Technology Act 1965(6) or any analogous government department, authority, board or body, of the Channel Islands, Isle of Man or any other country outside Northern Ireland;

“grant” means any kind of educational grant or award and includes any scholarship, studentship, exhibition, allowance or bursary but does not include a payment derived from funds made available by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland under Article 50 or 51 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 or by the Secretary of State under section 73 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980(7) for the purpose of assisting students in financial difficulties;

“grant income” means—

(a)

any income by way of a grant;

(b)

in the case of a student other than one to whom sub-paragraph (c) refers, any contribution that has been taken into account whether or not it has been paid;

(c)

in the case of a student who satisfies the additional conditions for a disability premium in paragraph 14 of Schedule 1 (applicable amounts), any contribution which has been taken into account and which has been paid,

and any such contribution which is paid by way of a covenant shall be treated as part of the student’s grant income;

“last day of the course” means the date on which the last day of the final academic term falls in respect of the course in which the student is enrolled;

“periods of experience” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 3(1) of the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995(8);

“standard maintenance grant” means—

(a)

except where paragraph (b) or (c) applies, in the case of a student attending a course of study at the University of London or an institution 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 7 to the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 for such a student;

(b)

except where paragraph (c) applies in the case of a student residing at his parents' home, the amount specified in paragraph 3(2) of that Schedule;

(c)

in the case of a student receiving an allowance or bursary under the Students' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1991 or the Education Authority (Bursaries) (Scotland) Regulations 1995, the amount of money specified as “standard maintenance allowance” for the relevant year appropriate for the student set out in the Guide to Under-graduate allowances issued by the Students Awards Agency for Scotland, or its nearest equivalent in the case of a bursary as set out by the local education authority;

(d)

in any other case, the amount specified in paragraph 2(2) of that Schedule other than in sub-paragraph (a) or (b) thereof;

“student” means a full-time student;

“year”, in relation to a course, means the period of 12 months beginning on and including 1st January, 1st April or 1st September according to whether the academic year of the course in question begins in the spring, the summer or the autumn respectively.

Calculation of grant income

131.—(1) The amount of a student’s grant income to be taken into account shall, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), be the whole of his grant income.

(2) There shall be disregarded from the amount of a student’s grant income any payment—

(a) intended to meet tuition fees or examination fees;

(b) intended to meet additional expenditure incurred by a disabled student in respect of his attendance on a course;

(c) intended to meet additional expenditure connected with term time residential study away from the student’s educational establishment;

(d) on account of the student maintaining a home at a place other than that at which he resides while attending his course but only to the extent that his rent or rates is not met by housing benefit;

(e) on account of any other person but only if that person is residing outside the United Kingdom and there is no applicable amount in respect of him;

(f) intended to meet the cost of books and equipment or if not so intended an amount equal to £278 towards such costs;

(g) intended to meet travel expenses incurred as a result of his attendance on the course.

(3) Where in pursuance of an award a student is in receipt of a grant in respect of maintenance under regulation 12(1)(b) of the Student Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 (payments by boards) there shall be excluded from his grant income a sum equal to the amount from time to time specified in paragraph 7(4) of Schedule 7 to those regulations, being the amount to be disregarded in respect of travel costs in the particular circumstances of his case.

(4) A student’s grant income except any amount intended for the maintenance of dependants under Part 3 of Schedule 7 to the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 or otherwise, or intended for an older student under Part 4 of that Schedule, shall be apportioned—

(a) subject to paragraph (6), in a case where it is attributable to the period of study, equally between the weeks in that period;

(b) in any other case, equally between the weeks in the period in respect of which it is payable.

(5) Any amount intended for the maintenance of dependants or for an older student under the provisions referred to in paragraph (4) shall be apportioned equally over a period of 52 weeks or, if there are 53 benefit weeks (including part-weeks) in the year, 53 weeks.

(6) In the case of a student on a sandwich course, any periods of experience within the period of study shall be excluded and the student’s grant income shall be apportioned equally between the remaining weeks in that period.

Calculation of covenant income where a contribution is assessed

132.—(1) Where a student is in receipt of income by way of a grant during a period of study and a contribution has been assessed, the amount of his covenant income to be taken into account for that period and any summer vacation immediately following shall be the whole amount of his covenant income less, subject to paragraph (3), the amount of the contribution.

(2) The weekly amount of the student’s covenant income shall be determined—

(a) by dividing the amount of income which falls to be taken into account under paragraph (1) by 52 or, if there are 53 benefit weeks (including part-weeks) in the year, 53, and

(b) by disregarding £5 from the resulting amount.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1), the contribution shall be treated as increased by the amount, if any, by which the amount excluded under regulation 131(2)(g) (calculation of grant income) falls short of the amount for the time being specified in paragraph 7(4)(i) of Schedule 7 to the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 (requirements).

Covenant income where no grant income or no contribution is assessed

133.—(1) Where a student is not in receipt of income by way of a grant the amount of his covenant income shall be calculated as follows—

(a) any sums intended for any expenditure specified in regulation 131(2)(a) to (e) (calculation of grant income), necessary as a result of his attendance on the course, shall be disregarded;

(b) any covenant income, up to the amount of the standard maintenance grant, which is not so disregarded, shall be apportioned equally between the weeks of the period of study and there shall be disregarded from the covenant income to be so apportioned the amount which would have been disregarded under regulation 131(2)(f) and (g) and (3) had the student been in receipt of the standard maintenance grant;

(c) the balance, if any, shall be divided by 52 or, if there are 53 benefit weeks (including part-weeks) in the year, 53 and treated as weekly income of which £5 shall be disregarded.

(2) Where a student is in receipt of income by way of a grant and no contribution has been assessed, the amount of his covenant income shall be calculated in accordance with paragraph (1), except that—

(a) the value of the standard maintenance grant shall be abated by the amount of his grant income less an amount equal to the amount of any sums disregarded under regulation 131(2)(a) to (e), and

(b) the amount to be disregarded under paragraph (1)(b) shall be abated by an amount equal to the amount of any sums disregarded under regulation 131(2)(f) and (g) and (3).

Relationship with amounts to be disregarded under Schedule 6

134.  No part of a student’s covenant income or grant income shall be disregarded under paragraph 15 of Schedule 6 (charitable and voluntary payments) and any other income to which sub-paragraph (1) of that paragraph applies shall be disregarded only to the extent that the amount disregarded under regulation 132(2)(b) (calculation of covenant income where a contribution is assessed) or, as the case may be, 133(1)(c) (covenant income where no grant income or no contribution is assessed) is less than £20.

Other amounts to be disregarded

135.—(1) For the purposes of ascertaining income other than grant income, covenant income, and loans treated as income in accordance with regulation 136 (treatment of student loans), any amounts intended for any expenditure specified in regulation 131(2) (calculation of grant income) necessary as a result of the student’s attendance on the course shall be disregarded but only if, and to the extent that, the necessary expenditure exceeds or is likely to exceed the amount of the sums disregarded under regulations 131(2) and (3), 132(3) and 133(1)(a) or (b) (calculation of grant income and covenant income) on like expenditure.

(2) Where a claim is made in respect of any period in the normal summer vacation and any income is payable under a Deed of Covenant which commences or takes effect after the first day of that vacation, that income shall be disregarded.

Treatment of student loans

136.—(1) A loan which is made to a student pursuant to arrangements made under Article 3 of the Education (Student Loans) (Northern Ireland) Order 1990(9) or section 1 of the Education (Student Loans) Act 1990(10) shall be treated as income.

(2) In calculating the weekly amount of the loan to be taken into account as income—

(a) except where sub-paragraph (b) applies, the loan shall be apportioned equally between the weeks in the academic year in respect of which the loan is payable;

(b) in the case of a loan which is payable in respect of the final academic year of the course or if the course is of only one academic year’s duration, in respect of that year, the loan shall be apportioned equally between the weeks in the period beginning with the start of the final academic year or, as the case may be, the single academic year and ending with the last day of the course,

and from the weekly amount so apportioned there shall be disregarded £10.

(3) For the purposes of this regulation a student shall be treated as possessing the maximum amount of any loan referred to in paragraph (1) which he will be able to acquire in respect of an academic year by taking reasonable steps to do so.

Disregard of contribution

137.  Where the claimant or his partner is a student and, for the purposes of assessing a contribution to the student’s grant, the other partner’s income has been taken into account, an amount equal to that contribution shall be disregarded for the purposes of assessing that other partner’s income.

Income treated as capital

138.  Any amount by way of a refund of tax deducted from a student’s income shall be treated as capital.

Disregard of changes occurring during summer vacation

139.  In calculating a student’s income an adjudication officer shall disregard any change in the standard maintenance grant occurring in the recognised summer vacation appropriate to the student’s course, if that vacation does not form part of his period of study, from and including the date on which the change occurred up to the end of that vacation.

(1)

S.I. 1991/1522

(2)

S.I. 1995/1739

(3)

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

(4)

1944 c. 31 as amended by Article 3(22) of, and Schedule 1 to, S.I. 1974/595 and Article 4(1) of S.I. 1977/293

(5)

1973 c. 65

(6)

1965 c. 4

(7)

1980 c. 44

(8)

S.R. 1995 No. 1

(9)

S.I. 1990/1506 (N.I. 11)

(10)

1990 c. 6