The Education (Grants) (Music and Ballet Schools) Regulations 1989

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations consolidate, with amendments, the Education (Grants) (Music and Ballet Schools) Regulations 1985 which, with regulations amending them, are revoked by Regulation 9(1). They come into force on 12th August 1989 and apply in relation to a school year beginning on or after that date (Regulation 1). Changes of substance are described below.

The Regulations provide for the payment of grant to the schools of music and ballet specified in Regulation 3(1) to reimburse them for their expenditure in operating the aided pupil scheme described in Schedule 1. It is made clear that such grants are discretionary (Regulation 5).

Part I of the Scheme in Schedule 1 deals with eligibility for aided places.

Part II of the Scheme contains general provisions relating to aid, whether by way of remission of fees and charges in pursuance of Part III or by way of uniform and school travel grants under Part IV. The deduction to be made from “relevant income” (as defined in paragraph 8) for dependent children and relatives is increased from £950 to £1,000 (paragraph 8(3)), but where another child of the parents is the holder of a specified award paid by a local education authority in England or Wales, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Department of Education for Northern Ireland or an education and library board in Northern Ireland to enable that child to attend a course of further or higher education and the award has been reduced by a sum exceeding £1,000 on account of the assumed parental contribution to the child’s resources, that sum is to be deducted instead (paragraph 8(2) and (4)).

The extent of remission, dealt with in Part III, is determined by reference to relevant income. The level of relevant income below which all designated fees and charges are to be remitted is raised from £6,248 to £6,529 for boarding pupils and from £7,849 to £8,203 for day pupils, with corresponding increases in the extent of remission where relevant income exceeds those sums (paragraphs 13 and 14).

The levels of uniform and school travel grants, which are also determined by reference to relevant income, are laid down in Part IV.

The limit of relevant income for payment of uniform grant in the pupil’s first year is raised from £8,078 to £8,450, with corresponding increases in the maximum amounts of grant payable where relevant income is below that figure, varying from £129 (formerly £123) to £32 (formerly £31); and in subsequent years from £7,741 to £8,097 with maximum grants of £48 (£46) and £24 (£23) (paragraph 17).

School travel grant is payable in full where relevant income does not exceed £7,595 (formerly £7,271) and scaled down where relevant income exceeds that figure (paragraph 23).

The Appendix to the Aided Pupil Scheme deals with computation of a person’s income by reference to his “total income” (as defined in Schedule 1, paragraph 8(1)). Where a person’s income includes a maintenance payment (as defined in Appendix, paragraph 5(3)), his income is to be computed as if that income were part of his total income, whether or not it would be included in his total income for tax purposes. Where a person makes such a maintenance payment, his income is to be computed as if such payment were not part of his total income, whether or not it would be deductible for tax purposes. (Appendix, paragraph 5.)

The conditions of payment of grant in Schedule 2 are unchanged.