The Education (Student Support) (Wales) Regulations 2018

Overpayments

22.—(1) Where an eligible postgraduate student has been paid an amount of disabled postgraduate student’s grant which exceeds the amount to which the student is entitled, the student must repay the excess amount if required to do so by the Welsh Ministers.

(2) In this paragraph, references to an eligible postgraduate student are to be treated as including a person who has received an amount of disabled postgraduate student’s grant but is not, or is no longer, an eligible postgraduate student.

(3) The Welsh Ministers must recover any overpayment of a disabled postgraduate student’s grant unless they think it is not appropriate to do so.

(4) A payment of a disabled postgraduate student’s grant made before the day on which the course begins is an overpayment if the eligible postgraduate student withdraws from the course before that day.

(5) A payment of disabled postgraduate student’s grant is an overpayment if either of the following cases apply—

Case 1

An amount of the grant has been paid for the purpose of assisting with expenditure on major items of specialist equipment but the equipment has not been delivered to the eligible postgraduate student before the student’s period of eligibility ends or is terminated.

Case 2

Payment of an amount of the grant for the purpose of assisting with expenditure on major items of specialist equipment is made after the eligible postgraduate student’s period of eligibility ends or is terminated.

(6) Overpayment of a disabled postgraduate student’s grant may be recovered by subtracting the overpayment from any grant payable to the eligible postgraduate student from time to time under these Regulations or any other regulations made by the Welsh Ministers under section 22 of the 1998 Act.

(7) Where—

(a) there is an overpayment of a disabled postgraduate student’s grant, and

(b) any amount of the grant was paid for the purpose of assisting with expenditure on major items of specialist equipment,

the Welsh Ministers may accept the return of specialist equipment by way of recovery of all or part of the overpayment.

(8) Sub-paragraphs (6) and (7) do not prevent the Welsh Ministers from recovering an overpayment by any other method available to them.