Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (S.R. 2009 No. 373)) (“the Student Support Regulations”), the Student Fees (Qualifying Courses and Persons) Regulations 2007 (S.R. 2007 No. 328), (“the QCP Regulations”) and the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (S.R. 2009/128) (“the Repayment Regulations”).

The principal amendments which these Regulations make to the Student Support Regulations are as follows.

Regulation 3 amends regulation 2(1) of the Student Support Regulations to include definitions connected with the higher education regulatory regime established in England by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (“HERA”). Amongst these are definitions of “the register”, “registered”, “approved” and “approved (fee cap)” providers. Regulation 3(b) also partially amends the definition of “accelerated course” in line with the definition set out in paragraph 4(2) of Schedule 2 to HERA, and adds to the general interpretation section the definition of an “accredited institution”, to reflect the wider availability of loans for school-centred initial teacher training courses.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 6(1) of the Student Support Regulations to amend the criteria for full-time courses to be designated for student support in the form of grants and loans to eligible students. Full-time higher education courses provided by or on behalf of registered English approved (fee cap) providers are to be designated for student support. Regulation 6, amending regulation 13 of the Student Support Regulations contains similar amendments to reflect the new terminology.

Regulation 5 amends regulation 8 of the Student Support Regulations to ensure that on transfer between courses, the provisions enabling the retention of eligible student status and existing levels of support do not apply where a student transfers to an accelerated course. Where a student transfers to an accelerated course, and is an eligible student, the new levels of support prescribed by these Regulations will apply.

Regulation 6, amends regulation 13 of the Student Support Regulations to include the following courses when considering previous course study; courses undertaken at approved (fee cap) providers in England and those that were undertaken at accredited institutions which, were unregistered for some or all of the academic years during which the student attended or undertook the course.

Regulations 7 amends regulations 17 of the Student Support Regulations to ensure that if a full-time course becomes a designated course at any point in an academic year, a student may qualify for fee support in respect of that year.

Regulation 8 amends regulation 25 of the Student Support Regulations to prescribe, in relation to full-time courses, different fee loan amounts where those courses are provided by or on behalf of English higher education providers included in the approved (fee cap) and approved categories of the register established by the Office for Students under section 3 of HERA. Regulation 8(c) also prescribes specific fee loan amounts applicable to unregistered providers of initial teacher training courses, and to providers of full-time accelerated courses at approved (fee cap) providers in England.

Regulations 9 to 11 amend regulations 71, 72 and 74 of the Student Support Regulations to ensure that the long courses loan is paid in respect of four quarters of an academic year rather than three, in accordance with the practice of the Student Loans Company.

Regulation 12 amends regulation 123 of the Student Support Regulations to ensure that where a part-time course becomes a designated course at any point in an academic year, a student may qualify for support costs in respect of that year.

Regulation 13 amends regulation 124 of the Student Support Regulations to amend the criteria for part-time courses to be designated for student support in the form of grants and loans to students. Part-time courses provided by or on behalf of registered English approved (fee cap) providers are to be designated for student support.

Regulations 14 and 15 amend regulations 141 and 152 of the Student Support Regulations respectively to ensure that support for postgraduate students with disabilities and the Master’s, etc. tuition fee loan is available where a postgraduate course is provided by or on behalf of a English approved (fee cap) provider, including where a provider becomes registered during the course of an academic year.

Regulation 16 amends the shoulder note to Schedule 2 to clarify that its provisions also apply to regulation 149.

Regulation 17 amends Schedule 6 to the 2009 Regulations, which lists the Republic of Ireland institutions that have courses designated for student support.

Regulations 18 to 29 create a new category of student eligible for student support: persons granted section 67 leave. It is of note that all amendments in these Regulations referring to persons granted section 67 leave include both persons granted leave under paragraph 352ZG of the immigration rules and children of those persons who are granted ‘leave in line’ under paragraph 352ZO of those rules.

Regulation 30 of, and the Schedule to, these Regulations uprate the level of the grants and loans for living and other costs available in an academic year which begins on or after 1st August 2019 by an inflationary amount, estimated at 2.8%.

These Regulations make the following amendments to other sets of Regulations.

Regulation 31 of these Regulations amends the QCP Regulations to ensure that persons granted section 67 leave may be eligible students under those Regulations. Regulation 32 amends the Schedule to the QCP Regulations to include the new category of person granted section 67 leave.

Regulation 33 of these Regulations amends the Repayment Regulations to make provision, in respect of the tax year 2019/20 and subsequent tax years, for when an amount paid by a borrower via deductions by their employer under Part 4 of the Principal Regulations is considered to have been paid by the borrower and received by the Department.

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.