Explanatory note

Part 11 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/1986) (“the Student Support Regulations”) makes provision to ensure that eligible part-time students undertaking designated part-time courses may receive financial support in connection with those courses by way of fee loans, grants or allowances. These Regulations amend the Student Support Regulations to provide that eligible part-time students who begin designated part-time courses on or after 1st August 2018 may also receive loans for living costs in respect of some categories of such courses.

Regulations 2 to 5 and 7 to 15 of these Regulations amend Part 11 of the Student Support Regulations so that regulations 136 to 140 in that Part now make provision in respect of the eligibility of part-time students for fee support, grants and allowances in connection with designated part-time courses and also in respect of their eligibility for loans for living costs in connection with such courses. “Designated part-time courses” are described in Part 11, in regulation 139, and is given a more restricted meaning in relation to loans for living costs. Part-time students who are “eligible part-time students” in accordance with Part 11 may be entitled to fee support, grants and allowances under new Part 11A and also to loans for living costs under new Part 11B. Regulation 6 amends regulation 85 so as to update that provision.

Regulation 151 of the Student Support Regulations makes provision in respect of the status of eligible part-time students who transfer to other designated part-time courses at the same or at another institution. Regulation 152 makes provision in respect of students who convert their mode of study: eligible (full-time) students who transfer to designated part-time courses at the same or at another institution and eligible part-time students who transfer to designated (full-time) courses at the same or at another institution. Regulations 151 and 152 are omitted (by regulation 22) but the substance of those provisions is inserted into Part 11, with some modifications, in regulations 139A to 139D. The modifications ensure that, when students convert their mode of study during a term (the “relevant term”), their entitlement to a loan for living costs in that term is calculated by reference to the number of days in the relevant term which they undertake in each mode of study. The modifications also ensure that students who transfer from full or part-time courses that are designated to full or part time courses that are not designated, may apply for any loans for living costs to which they may have been entitled before the transfer.

Regulations 16 to 23 insert regulations 140A and 140B into the Student Support Regulations and amend and reposition regulations 141 to 150 and regulations 153 to 157 of those Regulations. The substance of those provisions remains unchanged by these Regulations but they now form a new Part 11A in the Student Support Regulations: they continue to make the same provision in respect of fee support, grants and allowances in connection with designated part-time courses.

Regulation 24 inserts a new Part 11B into the Student Support Regulations. Part 11B makes provision for the loan for living costs which may be available to eligible part-time students and replicates, for the most part, the position in respect of loans for living costs for full-time students in Part 6 of the Student Support Regulations.

Chapter 1 of Part 11B makes provision, at regulations 157B and 157C respectively, in respect of qualifying and applying for the loan for living costs once a student is an eligible part-time student in connection with a designated part-time course under Part 11. Regulation 157D makes provision requiring a declaration to be provided by the academic authority in respect of the eligible part-time student and the designated part-time course. Regulation 157E requires the provision of information to the Secretary of State as set out in (the existing) Schedule 3 to the Student Support Regulations.

Chapter 2 of Part 11B sets out the maximum amount of loan for living costs which students with full and reduced entitlement may receive under this Part. A loan for living costs is made up of a loan for maintenance and/or a special support loan. Information about a student’s household income is required to calculate the maximum amount of loan for living costs to which an eligible part-time student with full entitlement may be entitled. Regulation 157I introduces a new Schedule 6 into the Student Support Regulations. That Schedule sets out how a part-time student’s household income is to be calculated. Also in Chapter 4, regulation 157J specifies how to calculate the minimum amount of loan for living costs which may be available for a student with full entitlement.

Chapter 3 of Part 11B makes miscellaneous provision. Amongst other things, it sets out, at regulation 157L, the manner in which the maximum amount of loan for living costs is to be calculated where a student falls into more than one of the categories set out in regulation 157F(4). It also sets out, in regulation 157N, the circumstances in which an eligible part-time student may apply to borrow an additional amount of loan for living costs.

Chapter 4 of Part 11B makes provision in respect of the payment of loans for living costs to eligible part-time students. Regulation 157O allows the Secretary of State to request a national insurance number before any loan under Part 11B is paid. Regulation 157P allows the Secretary of State to request information which the Secretary of State considers is required to recover a loan for living costs and allows the Secretary of State to require eligible part-time students to enter into agreements to repay loans for living costs by a particular method. Regulation 157Q provides for how payments are to be made to eligible part-time students in connection with loans for living costs. Regulation 157R makes provision in respect of how any overpayments in respect of such loans may be recovered.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business, charities or the voluntary sector.