Regulation 2
1.—(1) This Scheme may be cited as the Covid-19 Study Disruption Payment Scheme.
(2) “The Department” means the Department for the Economy.
2. The purpose of the Scheme is to provide financial assistance (a disruption payment) to eligible students to mitigate the effect on their studies of exceptional circumstances referred to in the determination made on 2nd March 2021 by the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly.
3. The Department must pay each designated institution an amount equal to the total of the disruption payments that institution has advised the Department that the institution is to pay to its eligible students under the Scheme.
4. A designated institution must pay each of its eligible students a single disruption payment of £500.
5. An eligible student is a person who—
(a)is enrolled on a qualifying course provided by a designated institution,
(b)to the satisfaction of that institution, was enrolled on such a course on any day of February 2021, and
(c)to the satisfaction of that institution, is domiciled in the European Union or the United Kingdom.
6.—(1) A qualifying course is a course of full-time higher education which leads to a qualification equal to, or higher than—
(a)a Regulated Qualifications Framework level 4 qualification;
(b)a Framework for Higher Education Qualifications level 4 qualification.
(2) The “Regulated Qualifications Framework” means the framework launched by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation on 1 October 2015.
(3) The “Framework for Higher Education Qualifications” means the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree–Awarding Bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland first published in 2001 by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.
(4) A “full-time” course is one which the designated institution at which the eligible student is enrolled considers to be such a course.
7. The following are designated institutions for the purpose of the Scheme—
Belfast Metropolitan College
College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise
Northern Regional College
North West Regional College
Queen’s University Belfast
South Eastern Regional College
Southern Regional College
South West College
St Mary’s University College
Stranmillis University College
Ulster University.
8. Any sum paid under the Scheme in error by a designated institution to a person, may be recovered as a debt due to that institution.
9.—(1) A payment under the Scheme may be taxable.
(2) Regulations 68 to 70 of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016(1) apply to a payment under the Scheme.