Amendment of the Housing Benefit (General) RegulationsE+W+S

5.—(1) The Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 M1 shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In regulation 46 (interpretation of Chapter I of Part VII)—

(a)in the definition of “contribution"M2 after the word “grant" there shall be inserted the words “ or student loan ”;

(b)for the definition of “year"M3 there shall be substituted the following definitions—

““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 M4, section 73 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 M5 or Article 3 of the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 M6;

“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.”.

(3) In regulation 51(1) (calculation of eligible rent for full-time students) M7 in sub-paragraph (a) for the amount “£26.45" there shall be substituted the amount “ £27.10 ” and in sub-paragraph (b) for the amount “£18.30" there shall be substituted the amount “ £18.75 ”.

(4) In regulation 53 (calculation of grant income)—

(a)in paragraph (2)(g) M8 the words from “or" to the end shall be omitted;

(b)for paragraph (2A) M9 there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(2A) Where a student does not have a student loan and is not treated as possessing such a loan, there shall be excluded from the student’s grant income—

(a)the sum of £250 in respect of travel costs; and

(b)where no amount has been disregarded under sub-paragraph (2)(g), the sum of £303 towards the cost of books and equipment,

whether or not any such costs are incurred.”.

(5) In regulation 57 (other amounts to be disregarded) M10 for the words “or 55(1)(a) or (c) (calculation of grant and covenant income)" there shall be substituted the words “ , 55(1)(a) or (c) or 57A(5) (calculation of grant income, covenant income and treatment of student loans) ”.

(6) In regulation 57A (treatment of student loans) M11—

(a)for paragraph (1) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(1) A student loan shall be treated as income.”;

(b)for paragraph (3) there shall be substituted the following paragraphs—

“(3) A student shall be treated as possessing a student loan in respect of an academic year where—

(a)a student loan has been made to him in respect of that year; or

(b)he could acquire such a loan in respect of that year by taking reasonable steps to do so.

(4) Where a student is treated as possessing a student loan under paragraph (3), the amount of the student loan to be taken into account as income shall be, subject to paragraph (5)—

(a)in the case of a student to whom a student loan is made in respect of an academic year, a sum equal to—

(i)the maximum student loan he is able to acquire in respect of that year by taking reasonable steps to do so; and

(ii)any contribution whether or not it has been paid;

(b)in the case of a student to whom a student loan is not made in respect of an academic year, the maximum student loan that would be made to the student if—

(i)he took all reasonable steps to obtain the maximum student loan he is able to acquire in respect of that year; and

(ii)no deduction in that loan was made by virtue of the application of a means test.

(5) There shall be deducted from the amount of a student’s loan income—

(a)the sum of £250 in respect of travel costs; and

(b)where no amount has been disregarded under regulation 53(2)(g), the sum of £303 towards the cost of books and equipment,

whether or not any such costs are incurred.”.

(7) In regulation 58(1) (disregard of contribution and rent) M12 after the word “grant" there shall be inserted the words “ or student loan ”.

(8) In regulation 58A (further disregard of student’s income) M13 after the word “grant" there shall be inserted the words “ or student loan ”.

(9) In Schedule 4 (sums to be disregarded)—

(a)at the end of paragraph 17(b), the word “or" shall be omitted;

(b)at the end of sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph 17 there shall be added “ or (d) the student’s student loan, ”;

(c)in paragraph 18(1)(a), for the words “or grant" there shall be substituted the words “ , grant or student loan ”.