2.—(1) An eligible student is an independent eligible student in every case where—
(a)the eligible student is aged 25 or over on the first day of the relevant year;
(b)the eligible student is married or is in a civil partnership before the beginning of the relevant year, whether or not the marriage or civil partnership is still subsisting;
(c)the eligible student has no parent living;
(d)the Welsh Ministers are satisfied that neither of the eligible student’s parents can be found or that it is not reasonably practicable to get in touch with either of them;
(e)the eligible student has communicated with neither of the eligible student’s parents for the period of one year before the beginning of the relevant year or, in the opinion of the Welsh Ministers, the eligible student can demonstrate on other grounds that the eligible student is irreconcilably estranged from the eligible student’s parents;
(f)the eligible student was looked after by a local authority within the meaning of section 74 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, or as the case may be, section 22 of the Children Act 1989(1) throughout any three-month period ending on or after the date on which the eligible student attained the age of 16 and before the first day of the first academic year of the course (“the relevant period”) provided that the eligible student has not in fact at any time during the relevant period been under the charge or control of the eligible student’s parents;
(g)the eligible student’s parents are residing outside the European Union and the Welsh Ministers are satisfied that either—
(i)the assessment of the household income by reference to their residual income would place those parents in jeopardy; or
(ii)it would not be reasonably practicable for those parents as a result of the calculation of any contribution under paragraph 8 to send any relevant funds to the United Kingdom;
(h)paragraph 5(9) applies and the parent whom the Welsh Ministers considered the more appropriate for the purposes of that paragraph has died (irrespective of whether the parent in question had a partner);
(i)the eligible student has the care of a person under the age of 18 as at the first day of the relevant year; or
(j)the eligible student (“A” in this sub-paragraph) has supported A out of A’s earnings for any period or periods ending before the first academic year of the course which together aggregate not less than three years, and for the purposes of this sub-paragraph A is to be treated as supporting A out of A’s earnings during any period in which—
(i)A was participating in arrangements for training for the unemployed under any scheme operated by, sponsored or funded by any state authority or agency, whether national, regional or local (“a relevant authority”);
(ii)A was in receipt of benefit payable by any relevant authority in respect of a person who is available for employment but who is unemployed;
(iii)A was available for employment and had complied with any requirement of registration imposed by a relevant authority as a condition of entitlement for participation in arrangements for training or receipt of benefit;
(iv)A held a state studentship(2) or comparable award; or
(v)A received any pension, allowance or other benefit paid by any person by reason of a disability to which A is subject, or by reason of confinement, injury or sickness.
(2) An eligible student who qualifies as an independent eligible student under paragraph 2(1)(j) in respect of an academic year of a designated course retains that status for the duration of the period of eligibility.
1989 c. 41; section 22 has been amended by the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 (c. 35), section 2, Local Government Act 2000 (c. 22), Schedule 5, paragraph 19, the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (c. 38), section 116(2), the Children Act 2004 (c. 31), section 52, the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 (c. 23), section 39 and Schedule 3,
the Children and Families Act 2014 (c. 6), section 99 and
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