# The Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations 1993, Regulation 3: References to independent students


(1) In these Regulations “independent student” means a student who—
(a) has attained the age of 25 years before the beginning of the year for which payments in pursuance of his award fall to be made; or
(b) has supported himself out of his earnings for periods before the first year of his course aggregating not less than three years; or
(c) has been married for at least two years before the beginning of the year for which payments in pursuance of his award fall to be made whether or not the marriage is still subsisting; or
(d) has no parent living.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b) a student shall be treated as having supported himself out of his earnings for any period or periods for which—
(a) the student was in receipt of training in pursuance of the Training Opportunities Programme, the Youth Opportunities Programme, the Youth Training Scheme of the Manpower Services Commission or the Training Commission as the case may be or any scheme run by the Training and Enterprise Councilsor the Local Enterprise Companies; or
(b) the student was in receipt of unemployment benefit under section (14)(1)(a) of the Social Security Act 1975or section 25(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 ; or
(c) … the student was available for employment and, if under the age of 18 years, registered for employment; or
(d) the student held a State Studentship or comparable award; or
(e) the student received sickness benefit, maternity allowance or severe disablement allowance under section 14(1)(b), 22(1) or 36(1) of the Social Security Act 1975or under section 31(1), 35(1) or 68(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or invalidity pension under section 15(1)(b) of the Social Security Act 1975, …under section 15(2) or 16(2) of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 or under section 33(1)(b), 40(3) or 41(2) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or statutory sick pay under Part I of the Social Security and Housing Benefits Act 1982 or under Part XI of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or statutory maternity pay under Part V of the Social Security Act 1986 or under Part XII of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992; or
(f) the student could not reasonably have been expected to support himself out of his earnings because he had the care of a person under the age of 18 years who was dependent upon him.
(3) In this regulation—
(a) any reference to a person registered or available for employment is a reference to his being so registered or available for the purposes of section 5 of the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976, …section 20 of the Social Security Act 1986 or section 124 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992; and
(b) “parent” shall have the same meaning as in Part II of Schedule 3 to these Regulations.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1993/1850/regulation/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/education-mandatory-awards-regulations-1993/regulation-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.