Amendment of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987

4.—[F1(1) The Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 M1 shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) Paragraph (1) of regulation 46 (interpretation of Part VII—students) shall be amended by inserting in the appropriate place the following definition of “access funds" and substituting for the definitions of “grant"M2 and “sandwich course"M3 the following definitions—

““access funds" means—

(a)grants made under section 7 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and described as “learner support funds" or grants made under section 68 of that Act and described as “access bursary funds" or “hardship funds";

(b)grants made under sections 73(a) and (c) and 74(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, or

(c)grants made under Article 30 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 or grants, loans or other payments made under Article 5 of the Further Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 in each case being grants, or grants, loans or other payments as the case may be, for the purpose of assisting students in financial difficulties;”;

““grant" (except in the definition of “access funds") means any kind of educational grant or award and includes any scholarship, studentship, exhibition, allowance or bursary but does not include a payment from access funds;”;

““sandwich course" has the meaning prescribed in regulation 5(2) of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2000, regulation 5(2) of the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 or regulation 5(2) of the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000, as the case may be;”.

(3) Paragraph (1) of regulation 46 (interpretation of Part VII— students) shall be further amended by substituting for sub-paragraph (b)(i) in the definition of “period of study"M4 the following sub-paragraph—

“(i)in a case where the student’s grant or loan is assessed at a rate appropriate to his studying throughout the year, or, if he does not have a grant or loan, where a loan would have been assessed at such a rate had he had one, the day before the start of the next year of the course, or”.

(4) Regulation 48A (full-time students to be treated as not liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling) M5 shall be amended by substituting for sub-paragraph (2)(g) M6 the following sub-paragraph—

“(g)in respect of whom—

(i)a supplementary requirement has been determined under paragraph 9 of Part II of Schedule 2 to the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations 1999;

(ii)an allowance, or as the case may be, bursary has been granted which includes a sum under paragraph (1)(d) of regulation 4 of the Students’ Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1999 or, as the case may be, under paragraph (1)(d) of regulation 4 of the Education Authority (Bursaries) (Scotland) Regulations 1995, in respect of expenses incurred;

(iii)a payment has been made under section 2 of the Education Act 1962;

(iv)a grant has been made under regulation 13 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2000 or under regulation 13 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000; or

(v)a supplementary requirement has been determined under paragraph 9 of Schedule 6 to the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 or a payment has been made under Article 50(3) of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 M7,

on account of his disability by reason of deafness.”.

(5) In paragraph (1) of regulation 51 (eligible rent) M8—

(a)in sub-paragraph (a), for the sum “£27.10" there shall be susbstituted the sum “ £27.75 ”; and

(b)in sub-paragraph (b), for the sum “£18.75" there shall be substituted the sum “ £19.20 ”.

(6) Regulation 53 (calculation of grant income) shall be amended as follows—

(a)in paragraph (2A) M9—

(i)in sub-paragraph (a), for the sum “£250" there shall be substituted the sum “ £255 ”; and

(ii)in sub-paragraph (b), for the sum “£303" there shall be substituted the sum “ £311 ”;

(b)in paragraph (3) before the words “A student’s grant income shall be apportioned" there shall be inserted the words “ Subject to paragraphs (3A) and (3B), ”;

(c)after paragraph (3) the following paragraphs shall be inserted—

“(3A) Any amount intended for the maintenance of dependants under Part III of Schedule 2 to the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations 1999 shall be apportioned equally over the period of 52 weeks or, if there are 53 benefit weeks (including part-weeks) in the year, 53.

(3B) Any amount intended for the maintenance of dependants to which neither paragraph (3A) nor regulation 57(2) (other amounts to be disregarded) apply, shall be apportioned over the same period as the student’s loan is apportioned or would have been apportioned had he had one.”.

(7) Regulation 57 (other amounts to be disregarded) M10 shall be amended by renumbering that regulation as regulation 57(1) and adding the following paragraph—

“(2) Where a grant for school meals for dependent children or a grant for meals for dependent children aged 3 or 4 is paid pursuant to any regulations made under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 M11 that payment shall be disregarded as income.”.

(8) Regulation 57A (treatment of student loans) M12 shall be amended as follows—

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

“(1) A student loan shall be treated as income unless it is a hardship loan in which case it shall be disregarded.

(1A) For the purposes of paragraph (1), “hardship loan" means a loan made under regulation 21 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2000, regulation 12 of the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 or regulation 21 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000”;

and

(b)for paragraph (2) M13, there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(2) In calculating the weekly amount of the loan to be taken into account as income—

(a)in respect of a course that is of a single academic year’s duration or less, a loan which is payable in respect of that period shall be apportioned equally between the weeks in the period beginning with—

(i)the start of the single academic year; or

(ii)where the course is of less than an academic year’s duration, the first day of the course,

and ending with the last day of the course;

(b)in respect of the final academic year of a course (not being a course of a single year’s duration), a loan which is payable in respect of that final academic year shall be apportioned equally between the weeks in the period beginning with the earlier of—

(i)the first day of the first benefit week in September; or

(ii)the first day of the first benefit week following the beginning of the autumn term,

and ending with the last day of the last benefit week before the last day of the course;

(c)in any other case, the loan shall be apportioned equally between the weeks in the period beginning with the earlier of—

(i)the first day of the first benefit week in September; or

(ii)the first day of the first benefit week following the beginning of the autumn term,

and ending with the last day of the last benefit week in June,

and, in all cases, from the weekly amount so apportioned there shall be disregarded £10.”;

and

(c)in paragraph (5) M14—

(i)in sub-paragraph (a), for the sum “£250" there shall be substituted the sum “ £255 ”; and

(ii)in sub-paragraph (b), for the sum “£303" there shall be substituted the sum “ £311 ”.

(9) The following regulation shall be inserted after regulation 57A (treatment of student loans)—

“ Treatment of payments from access funds

57B.—(1) This regulation applies to payments from access funds that are not payments to which regulation 59(2) or (3) (income treated as capital) applies.

(2) A payment from access funds, other than a payment to which paragraph (3) of this regulation applies, shall be disregarded as income.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4) of this regulation and paragraph 33 of Schedule 4, any payments from access funds which are intended and used for food, household fuel or rent or ordinary clothing or footwear (“rent" and “ordinary clothing or footwear" have the same meaning as in paragraph 13(2) of Schedule 4), of a single claimant or any other member of his family, and any payments from access funds which are used for any council tax or water charges for which that claimant or member is liable shall be disregarded as income to the extent of £20 per week.

(4) Where a payment from access funds is made—

(a)on or after 1st September or the first day of the course, whichever first occurs, but before receipt of any student loan in respect of that year and that payment is intended for the purpose of bridging the period until receipt of the student loan; or

(b)before the first day of the course to a person in anticipation of that person becoming a student,

that payment shall be disregarded as income.”.

(10) Regulation 59 (income treated as capital) shall be amended by renumbering that regulation as regulation 59(1) and adding the following paragraphs—

“(2) An amount paid from access funds as a single lump sum shall be treated as capital.

(3) An amount paid from access funds as a single lump sum which is intended and used for an item other than food, household fuel, rent, ordinary clothing or footwear (“rent" and “ordinary clothing or footwear" having the same meanings as in paragraph 13(2) of Schedule 4) of a single claimant or, as the case may be, of the claimant or any other member of his family, or which is used for any council tax or water charges for which that claimant or member is liable, shall be disregarded as capital but only for a period of 52 weeks from the date of the payment.”.

(11) Paragraph 33 of Schedule 4 M15 shall be amended by inserting after the words “regulation 57A(2) (treatment of student loans)", the words “ , regulation 57B(3) (treatment of payments from access funds) ”.]