{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-students-and-income-related-benefits-amendment-regulations-northern-ireland-2001/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-students-and-income-related-benefits-amendment-regulations-northern-ireland-2001/note.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/2001/278",
  "legislation_title": "The Social Security (Students and Income-Related Benefits Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-students-and-income-related-benefits-amendment-regulations-northern-ireland-2001",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations.)\nThese Regulations further amend the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 and the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 in so far as those Regulations apply to students and former students.\nIn particular, they—\ninsert a definition of “academic year” , amend the definitions of “access funds” , “contribution” , “standard maintenance grant” and “student loan” and omit the definition of “year” (regulation 2);\nincrease the amounts of grant and loan income to be disregarded in respect of books and equipment and for travel costs and allow the former to be disregarded even if a student’s grant income includes an amount for books and equipment (regulation 3(1) to (3));\nadd new exclusions for grants paid to certain students who are lone parents, for childcare costs and for certain course-related expenditure and also increase the amount deducted from rent for calculating eligible rent (regulation 3(4) and (5));\nprovide rules as to the apportionment of student loans where the academic year starts other than on 1st September (regulation 4);\nprovide a formula for calculating the income of a former student who has received a student loan or an amount intended for the maintenance of dependents and who abandons, or is dismissed from, his course before the end of the penultimate term of the academic year (regulation 5);\nensure that grants paid to students receiving instruction as officers of hospital authorities are taken into account over 12 months and not 10 (regulation 6);\ndisregard school meal grants paid in Scotland as income in housing benefit (regulation 7).\nIn so far as these Regulations are required, for the purposes of regulations 2(1) and (2)(a), 3(1), (2) and (3)(a), (4)(a) and (5), 4(a), 5(3), 6(a) and 7, to be referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee under section 149(2) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, (“the 1992 Act” ), after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee, they have not been so referred by virtue of section 150(1)(b) of that Act. Otherwise they make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the 1992 Act, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.\nThese Regulations do not impose any charge on business.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2001/278/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T02:10:52.198620+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."
}