The Social Security Amendment (Students and Income-related Benefits) Regulations 2001

Definitions

2.—(1) In the provisions specified in paragraph (2) below—

(a)immediately before the first definition there shall be inserted the following definition—

““academic year” means the period of twelve months beginning on 1st January, 1st April, 1st July or 1st September according to whether the course in question 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;”;

(b)in the definition of “access funds”(1)—

(i)in paragraph (a), for the words “and described as “access bursary funds” or “hardship funds”” there shall be substituted the words “for the purpose of providing funds on a discretionary basis to be paid to students”;

(ii)the word “or” at the end of paragraph (b) shall be omitted and after paragraph (c) there shall be added the following—

“or

(d)discretionary payments, known as “learner support funds”, which are made available to students in further education by institutions out of funds provided by the Learning and Skills Council for England under sections 5, 6 and 9 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000(2);”;

(c)in the definition of “contribution”—

(i)after the words “Secretary of State” in the first place where those words appear there shall be inserted the words “, the Scottish Ministers”;

(ii)for the words “Secretary of State” in the other two places where those words appear there shall be substituted the words “Scottish Ministers”;

(d)for paragraph (c) of the definition of “standard maintenance grant” there shall be substituted the following—

“(c)in the case of a student receiving an allowance or bursary under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980(3), the amount of money specified as the “standard maintenance allowance” for the relevant year appropriate for the student set out in the Student Support in Scotland Guide issued by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland(4), or its nearest equivalent in the case of a bursary provided by a college of further education or a local education authority and paid under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992(5);”;

(e)at the end of the definition of “student loan” there shall be added the words “and shall include, in Scotland, a young student’s bursary paid under regulation 4(1)(c) of the Students' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1999(6)”;

(f)the definition of “year” shall be omitted.

(2) The provisions specified for the purposes of paragraph (1) above(7) (interpretation) are—

(a)regulation 38(1) of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations;

(b)regulation 46(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations;

(c)regulation 61(1) of the Income Support Regulations;

(d)regulation 130 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations.

(3) In—

(a)paragraphs (a) and (c) of the definition of “full-time course of study” in regulation 61(1) of the Income Support Regulations;

(b)paragraphs (a) and (c) of the definition of “full-time course of advanced education” in both regulation 61(1) of the Income Support Regulations and regulation 1(3) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations; and

(c)paragraph (b)(i) and (iii) of the definition of “full-time student” in regulation 1(3) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations,

for the words “Secretary of State for Scotland”, wherever those words appear, there shall be substituted the words “Scottish Ministers”.

(4) In the definition of “full-time course of study” in both regulation 38(1) of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations and regulation 46(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations—

(a)in paragraph (a), for the words from “a full-time course of study” to the end of the paragraph there shall be substituted the words “a full-time course of study which is not funded in whole or in part by the Scottish Ministers at a college of further education or a full-time course of study which is a course of higher education and is funded in whole or in part by the Scottish Ministers”;

(b)in paragraph (c), for the words “Secretary of State for Scotland”, there shall be substituted the words “Scottish Ministers”.