Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations consolidate, with amendments, the Education (Assisted Places) Regulations 1989 which, with the Regulations amending them, are revoked by regulation 24(1). They come into force on 25th August 1995 and apply in relation to a school year beginning on or after that date (regulation 1).
The Regulations relate to the scheme for assisted places at independent schools established pursuant to section 17 of the Education Act 1980.
Apart from minor drafting amendments, the main changes made are set out below.
In Part I, the definition of “parents” in regulation 2(2) has been revised to take account of the provisions of the Children Act 1989 and to limit the definition to the person(s) with whom the child resides in the same household. In relation to a child selected for an assisted place under the 1989 Regulations (as amended) in the school year 199495, the previous definition of “parents” will continue to apply for the school year 199596 and other school years immediately following ones in which the child holds an assisted place (regulation 24(2)).
In Part II (which deals with eligibility for assisted places), the condition relating to residence (regulation 4) has been revised to:
remove the requirement that a child who is a national of a member state of the European Community be resident in the British Islands on the relevant date; and
take account of the European Economic Area agreement.
In Part III, dealing with remission of fees, the reduction to be made in relevant income in respect of dependent relatives pursuant to regulation 11(3) and (5) has been increased to £1,165 (from £1,140 in the previous Regulations).
In Part V, the requirement in regulation 23(1) for the accounts of schools to be audited is amended to require the auditor to be a person who is eligible to audit company accounts.
In Schedule 1, paragraph 5(3):
certain maintenance payments made to or for the benefit of an assisted pupil by an absent parent, are to be taken into account in assessing “total income” for the purposes of the Regulations; and
such payments made by a parent with whom the pupil resides, to or for the benefit of another child not in the same household, are to be left out of account in making that assessment.
Under the previous Regulations, such payments were only taken into or left out of account where they were made by a party to a marriage or former marriage.
In Schedule 2, the means test for the remission of fees is relaxed: the level of income at or below which fees are to be wholly remitted is set at £9,572 instead of £9,352, with corresponding increases in the extent of remission where relevant income exceeds that sum.