In this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires—

• F43“access fund payment” means a payment for further and higher education students made under section 7 or 68 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or section 73 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980;

• “a course of advanced education” means—

  1. a

     a full-time course leading to a postgraduate degree or comparable qualification, a first degree or comparable qualification, a diploma of higher education, a higher national diploma, F11a higher national diploma or higher national certificate of either the Business & F14Technology Education Council or the Scottish Vocational Education Council or a teaching qualification; or

  2. b

     any other full-time course which is a course of a standard above ordinary national diploma, F12a national diploma or national certificate of either the Business & F15Technology Education Council or the Scottish Vocational Education Council, a general certificate of education (advanced level), a Scottish certificate of education F13(higher level) or a Scottish certificate of sixth year studies;

• “contribution” means any contribution in respect of the income F28of a student or of any other person which F57the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers or an education authority takes into account in assessing the amount of the student's grant F31or student loan; or any sums, which in determining the amount of the student’s allowance or bursary in Scotland in terms of the Students' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1996 or the Education Authority (Bursaries) (Scotland) Regulations 1995, F58the Scottish Ministers or education authority take into account being sums which F59the Scottish Ministers or the education authority consider that the holder of the allowance or bursary, the holder’s parents and the holder’s spouse can reasonably be expected to contribute towards the holder’s expenses;

• “course of study” means any F41... course of study or sandwich course whether or not a grant is made for attending it;

• “covenant income” means the gross income payable to a student under a Deed of Covenant by a person whose income is, or is likely to be, taken into account in assessing the student's grant or award;

• F44“daily living costs” means food, ordinary clothing or footwear, household fuel or housing costs;

• “education authority” means a government department, F66a local authority as defined in section 579 of the Education Act 1996 (interpretation), an education authority as defined in section 135(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 M1 (interpretation), an education and library board established under Article 3 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 M2, any body which is a research council for the purposes of the Science and Technology Act 1965 M3 or any analogous government department, authority, board or body of the Channel Islands, Isle of Man or any other country outside Great Britain;

• “grant” means any kind of educational grant or award and includes any scholarship, studentship, exhibition, allowance or bursary F3but does not include a payment derived from funds made available by the Secretary of State F60or the Scottish Ministers for the purpose of assisting students in financial difficulties under section 100 of the Education Act 1944, sections 131 and 132 of the Education Reform Act 1988 or section 73 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980;

• “grant income” means—

  1. a

     any income by way of a grant;

  2. b

     any contribution which has been assessed whether or not it has been paid,

  and any such contribution which is paid by way of a covenant shall be treated as part of the student's grant income;

• F4“last day of the course” means the date on which the last day of the final academic term falls in respect of the course in which the student is enrolled;

• F45“ordinary clothing or footwear” means clothing or footwear for normal daily use, but does not include school uniforms, or clothing or footwear used solely for sporting activities;

• “period of study” means—

  1. a

     in the case of a course of study for one year or less, the period beginning with the start of the course F5and ending with the last day of the course,

  2. b

     in the case of a course of study for more than one year, in the first or, as the case may be, any subsequent year of the course, F6other than the final year of the course, the period beginning with the start of the course or, as the case may be, that year's start and ending with either—

     1. i

        the day before the start of the next year of the course in a case where the student's grant F46or loan is assessed at a rate appropriate to his studying throughout the year, or, if he does not have a grant F47or loan , where it would have been assessed at such a rate had he had one; or

     2. ii

        in any other case the day before the start of the normal summer vacation appropriate to his course;

  3. c

     F7in the final year of a course of study of more than one year, the period beginning with that year’s start and ending with the last day of the course;

• “periods of experience” has the meaning prescribed in paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 5 to the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations F291998;

• F48“sandwich course” has the meaning given by regulation 5(2) of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2000 or regulation 5(3) of the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 1999,

• “standard maintenance grant” means—

  1. a

     except where paragraph (b) applies, in the case of a student attending a course of study at the University of London or an establishment within the area comprising the City of London and the Metropolitan Police District, the amount specified for the time being in paragraph 2(2)(a) of Schedule 2 to the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations F301998 for such a student; and

  2. b

     in the case of a student residing at his parents' home, the amount specified in paragraph 3(2) thereof;

  3. c

     in any other case, the amount specified in paragraph 2(2) other than in sub-paragraph (a) or (b) thereof;

• “student” F10means a person, other than a person in receipt of a training allowance, who is aged less than 19 and attending a full-time course of advanced education or, as the case may be, who is aged 19 or over and attending a F42... course of study at an educational establishment; and for the purposes of this definition—

  1. a

     a person who has started on such a course shall be treated as attending it F22... until F8the last day of the course or such earlier date as he abandons it or is dismissed from it;

  2. b

     a person on a sandwich course shall be treated as attending a full-time course of advanced education or, as the case may be, of study;

• F32“student loan” means a loan towards a student’s maintenance pursuant to any regulations made under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998, section 73 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 or Article 3 of the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998;

• “year”, in relation to a course, means the period of 12 months beginning on 1st January, 1st April, 1st July or 1st September according to whether the academic year of the course begins in the winter, the spring, the summer or the autumn respectively, but if students are required to begin attending the course during August or September and to continue attending through the autumn the academic year of the course shall be considered to begin in the autumn rather than the summer.

No part of a student's covenant income or grant income shall be disregarded under paragraph 13 of Schedule 2 and any F1other income to which sub-paragraph (1) of that paragraph applies shall be disregarded thereunder only to the extent that the amount disregarded under regulation 39(2)(b) (calculation of covenant income where a contribution is assessed) or, as the case may be, 40(1)(c) (covenant income where no grant income or no contribution is assessed) is less than F24£20.

For the purposes of ascertaining income F20other than grant income, covenant income and loans treated as income in accordance with regulation 42A, any amounts intended for any expenditure specified in regulation 38(2) (calculation of grant income) necessary as a result of his attendance on the course shall be disregarded but only if, and to the extent that, the necessary expenditure exceeds or is likely to exceed the amount of the sums disregarded under regulation 38(2) F21and (2A), 39(3) F35, 40(1)(a) or (b) and 42A(5) (calculation of grant income, covenant income and treatment of student loans) on like expenditure.

There shall be disregarded from the calculation of a student’s capital under regulation 29(1) any lump sum access fund payment made to the student that is not intended to be used for daily living costs, but only for a period of 52 weeks from the date of receipt of the payment.

Where the claimant or his partner is a student and F23, for the purposes of assessing a contribution to the student’s grant F38or student loan, the other partner’s income has been taken into account, an amount equal to that contribution shall be disregarded for the purposes of assessing that other partner’s income.

Where any part of a student’s income has already been taken into account for the purposes of assessing his entitlement to a grant F39or student loan, the amount taken into account shall be disregarded in assessing that student’s income.

Any amount by way of a refund of tax deducted from a student's covenant income shall be disregarded in calculating the student's income or capital.

In calculating a student's income there shall be disregarded any change in the standard maintenance grant occurring in the recognised summer vacation appropriate to the student's course, if that vacation does not form part of his period of study, from the date on which the change occurred to the end of that vacation.