{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/higher-education-qualifying-courses-qualifying-persons-and-supplementary-provision-wales-regulations-2015/regulation-4",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/higher-education-qualifying-courses-qualifying-persons-and-supplementary-provision-wales-regulations-2015/regulation-4.json",
  "legislation": "wsi/2015/1484",
  "legislation_title": "The Higher Education (Qualifying Courses, Qualifying Persons and Supplementary Provision) (Wales) Regulations 2015",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/higher-education-qualifying-courses-qualifying-persons-and-supplementary-provision-wales-regulations-2015",
  "path": "regulation/4",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "4",
  "heading": "Prescribed description of a qualifying person",
  "text": "(1) A qualifying person who is prescribed for the purposes of section 5(5) of the 2015 Act is a person who satisfies either of the conditions in paragraph (1A) and does not fall within any of the exceptions in paragraph (1B).\n(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(1A) The conditions are—\nCondition 1\nA person falls within either paragraph 2A or 8A of the Schedule—\n(a) on the day on which the first term of the first academic year actually begins, where the academic year is the first academic year of the person’s course, or\n(b) otherwise, on the first day of an academic year.\nCondition 2\nA person falls within a prescribed category on the first day of an academic year.\n(1B) The exceptions are—\n(a) a person who is not eligible for support under the 2015 Regulations by reason of regulation 4(3)(c), (d), (e) or (f) of those Regulations;\n(b) a person who is not eligible for support under the 2017 Regulations by reason of regulation 4(3)(c), (d), (e) or (f) of those Regulations;\n(c) a person who is not eligible for support under the 2018 Regulations because they are a person to whom Exception 3, paragraph (a), Exception 4, Exception 5 or Exception 6 in regulation 10(1) of those Regulations applies;\n(d) a person mentioned in paragraphs (2), (3), (3A) or (8).\n(2) Subject to the exceptions in paragraphs (4), (5) (6) and (7), a person is not a qualifying person if—\n(a) the person holds a higher education qualification; and\n(b) the qualifying course leads to a qualification which is an equivalent or lower qualification.\n(3) A person is not a qualifying person if—\n(a) the person ceases a course (“the first course”) which is not a qualifying course;\n(b) disregarding any intervening vacation, the person immediately attends another course which is a qualifying course; and\n(c) the first course was not a qualifying course by reason of regulation 3(2).\n(3A) A person is not a qualifying person in connection with a course which begins on or after 1 January 2028 if the only prescribed category into which the person falls is paragraph 8A, 9B or 9BA.\n(4) Paragraph (2) does not apply where—\n(a) the qualifying course is a course for the initial training of teachers;\n(b) the duration of the course does not exceed two years (the duration of a part-time course being expressed as its full-time equivalent); and\n(c) the qualifying person is not a qualified teacher.\n(5) Paragraph (2) does not apply in respect of any part of a single course where—\n(a) the single course leads to an honours degree being conferred on the qualifying person from an institution in the United Kingdom before the final degree or equivalent qualification; and\n(b) the only honours degree held by the qualifying person was received as part of that single course.\n(6) Paragraph (2) does not apply where the qualifying course is a foundation degree.\n(7) Paragraph (2) does not apply where the qualifying course leads to qualification as a social worker, medical doctor, dentist, veterinary surgeon or architect.\n(8) Where an event occurs in the course of an academic year and as a result a person falls within a prescribed category in the course of an academic year, that person is not a qualifying person in respect of the academic year in which the relevant event occurred or any previous academic year.\n(9) In this regulation, “prescribed category” means one of the categories described—\n(a) in paragraph 2, 2A, 3, 4, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 5, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9A, 9B, 9BA, 9C, 9D, 9E, 10A, 11A or 12A of the Schedule; or\n(b) in paragraph 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 of the Schedule where paragraph (10) applies.\n(10) This paragraph applies where—\n(a) in connection with a qualifying course beginning before 1 August 2021, a person (“A”) was a qualifying person by virtue of falling within one of the categories of person described in paragraph 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 of the Schedule in relation to an academic year beginning before 1 August 2021; and\n(b) A is undertaking an academic year of that qualifying course or of a qualifying course to which A transfers from that course in accordance with regulations made under section 22 of the 1998 Act.",
  "extent": "E+W",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Reg. 4(1) substituted (30.7.2018) by The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/814), regs. 1(2), 48"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4(1) substituted (5.2.2026 with application in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026 (W.S.I. 2026/3), regs. 1(2), 2, 12(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Reg. 4(1)(a)-(d) omitted (5.2.2026 with application in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by virtue of The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026 (W.S.I. 2026/3), regs. 1(2), 2, 12(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Reg. 4(1A)(1B) inserted (5.2.2026 with application in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026 (W.S.I. 2026/3), regs. 1(2), 2, 12(c)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Reg. 4(3A) inserted (25.4.2021) by The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/481), regs. 1(2), 31(b) (with reg. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4(3A) substituted (31.12.2021) by The Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/1365), regs. 1(2), 12(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4(8) substituted (25.4.2021) by The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/481), regs. 1(2), 31(c) (with reg. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "Reg. 4(9)(10) inserted (25.4.2021) by The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/481), regs. 1(2), 31(d) (with reg. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "Word in reg. 4(9)(a) inserted (with application in accordance with reg. 3 of the amending S.I.) by The Education (Student Finance) (Ukrainian Nationals and Family Members) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/764), regs. 2, 16"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F10",
      "text": "Word in reg. 4(9)(a) inserted (with application in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 3) (Wales) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1349), regs. 1(2), 15"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F11",
      "text": "Word in reg. 4(9)(a) inserted (31.12.2021) by The Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/1365), regs. 1(2), 12(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Reg. 4 in force at 31.7.2015, see reg. 1(1)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2015/1484/regulation/4",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T23:33:51.472693+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}