SECTION 12 STUDENTS

General

12.001 Students may have difference types of income which will be treated in different ways.

Grant Income

Sources of grant income

12.002 The responsibility for granting assistance to students undertaking courses of further or higher education in Scotland is divided between The Scottish Office Education Department (SOED) and the education authorities of the Regional and Islands Councils, depending on the level of course. SOED is generally responsible for the administration of grants for full-time courses of higher education at Higher National Certificate, Higher National Diploma and first degree or comparable levels, plus certain categories of postgraduate courses. Awards for students attending other full-time, and all part-time, courses are the responsibility of the education authorities, which have discretionary powers under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to offer assistance to individuals ordinarily resident in their areas. In both cases, the grant is likely to include amounts for various specific purposes, such as personal maintenance, travelling expenses and books.

Period over which grant should be taken into account

12.003 Information on the period covered by a grant can be obtained from SOED or the education authority.

a. Where the grant is payable for the period of study, the amount to be taken into account should be divided equally over the number of weeks in the period of study.

b. Where the grant is payable for some other period, the amount to be taken into account should be divided equally over the number of weeks for which the grant has been paid.

Reg 36(2)

Note Grants which are awarded by SOED under the Students' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations will include grant payment for the Christmas and Easter vacations. However, education authority grants may or may not include payment for those vacations.

Assessed contribution

12.004 SOED or the education authority may decide that the student's parent or spouse should make a contribution to the grant. Such a contribution would be assessed on the basis of the income of the parent or spouse and the actual grant payable will be reduced by the amount of assessed contribution.

Reg 35

Amount of grant income

12.005 The amount of grant income to be taken into account should be the amount of standard maintenance grant included in the grant. The standard maintenance grant figure should be obtained from SOED or the education authority each year. Any other part of the grant should be ignored.

Reg 36(1)

12.006 Any assessed contribution from the resident's parents or spouse, whether or not it is actually paid (including any paid by Deed of Covenant), should be added to the grant and taken into account up to the level of the standard maintenance grant.

Reg 35

Covenant income where there is no grant income

Meaning of covenant income

12.007 Covenant income is the income, net of tax at the basic rate, payable to the 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.

Reg 35

Deed of Covenant

12.008 A Deed of Covenant is an agreement in writing between a covenantor (donor) and a covenantee (recipient) that a certain sum or sums from the former's income will be paid to the latter while certain conditions exist. A covenant enables the covenant enables the covenantee to reclaim in whole or part tax deducted by the covenantor from his payments; but generally speaking covenants between individuals attract this benefit only where they were entered into on or before 15 March 1988.

Amount to be taken into account

12.009 The amount of covenant income to be taken into account is equivalent to the amount of standard maintenance grant which would have been paid, had a maintenance grant have been payable. Ask SOED to provide details of the relevant standard maintenance grant.

Reg 37(1)

12.010 Any amount of covenant income above the figure of the standard maintenance grant should be ignored.

Reg 37(1)

Disregards

12.011 No part of the grant or covenant income should be disregarded as a charitable or

voluntary payment (para 8.051 et seq).

Reg 38

Student loans

12.012 Student loans are administered by the Student Loans Company Ltd and are paid out of money made available by the Secretary of State for Education.

Eligibility for student loans

12.013 Loans are generally available to full-time students on higher education courses lasting at least one academic year which are below postgraduate level (with the exception of the Post Graduate Certificate in Education) but above

1. below postgraduate level (with the exception of the Post Graduate Certificate in Education) but above

a) GCE Advanced level;

b) Scottish Higher level; or

c) BTEC or ScotVEC national diploma.

Maximum student loans

12.014 The amount for which the student is eligible is always the maximum according to his circumstances. If the student has taken none, or only part, of the loan this will be by his own choice. If the student is eligible for a loan (see 12.013 above) it will be taken into account whether or not the student has taken the loan.

Reg 39

12.015 The maximum amount of student loan will depend on

1. where the student is studying (London, elsewhere or living at home)

2. whether the student has reached the final year of the course

The maximum student loan can be found by asking SOED

or by contacting the Student Loans Company Ltd, 100 Bothwell

Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD.

Calculation of weekly income from student loans

12.016 The weekly amount of loan income should be calculated by dividing the appropriate maximum loan

1. if the student is in the final academic year of the course, or if the course is only one year's duration - by the number of weeks between the start of the academic year (1 January, 1 April or 1 September as appropriate) and the last day of the course.

2. in any other case - by 52 or 53 depending on the number of weeks in the academic year (the 12 months from 1 January, 1 April or 1 September) for which the loan is payable.

Reg 39

Amount to be disregarded

12.017 Up to £10 of the weekly income from a student loan should be disregarded.

Reg 39

Access funds

12.018 Access funds provided by the Secretary of State for Scotland are intended for the relief of hardship, where a student might be prevented by financial considerations from starting or completing a course. The funds are administered by the educational institutions such as universities and colleges and payments may be made by lump sum, regular weekly cash payments, or by payment in kind. Payments can be made to third parties.

Treatment of payments

12.019 Payments made at regular intervals should be treated as a voluntary payment and be subjected to a £20 disregard.

Reg 40(1)

12.020 Payments paid, or due to be paid, at irregular intervals should be treated as capital.

Reg 40(2)