(This note is not part of the Regulations)
The Education (Student Support) (Wales) Regulations 2013 (“the 2013 Regulations”) provide for financial support for students who are ordinarily resident in Wales and taking designated higher education courses in respect of academic years beginning on or after 1 September 2014.
These Regulations amend the 2013 Regulations.
Regulation 3 introduces a number of new terms into the list of defined terms in the 2013 Regulations. An “eligible part-time prisoner” is a prisoner who meets certain eligibility requirements set out in the definition, including being authorised to study a part-time course of higher education which begins on or after 1 September 2014. The term “prisoner” refers to a person who is serving a sentence of imprisonment in the United Kingdom including a person detained in a young offender institution.
Regulation 4 amends regulation 5 of the 2013 Regulations. This amendment provides that in order to be designated under the 2013 Regulations a course must be provided in the United Kingdom.
Regulation 5 amends regulation 6 of the 2013 Regulations in relation to the period of eligibility calculation for eligible students who have undertaken a previous course of higher education. This amendment provides that certain support (the grant for disabled students’ living costs and any of the grants for dependants) will not be caught by this particular period of eligibility calculation.
Regulations 6, 8, 9 and 10 amend various elements of the 2013 Regulations relating to the provision of support to part-time eligible students. These amendments provide that, subject to certain exceptions, prisoners who are eligible part-time prisoners will be able to access tuition fee support under the 2013 Regulations in respect of part-time higher education courses beginning on or after 1 September 2014. The amendments also provide that prisoners, including eligible part-time prisoners, will be unable to access any other type of part-time support under the 2013 Regulations.
Regulation 7 makes a minor amendment to a figure in the 2013 Regulations.