The Higher Education Short Course Loans Regulations 2022

Made: 21st March 2022

Laid before Parliament: 23rd March 2022

Coming into force: 13th April 2022

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 22 and 42(6) of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998[^f00001].

PART 1 — Introductory

Citation, commencement, extent and application

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• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Higher Education Short Course Loans Regulations 2022.

• (2) These Regulations come into force on 13th April 2022.

• (3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales, but apply only in relation to England[^f00002].

• (4) These Regulations apply to the provision of fee loans to students in connection with an HE short course which begins on or after 1st September 2022 whether anything done under these Regulations is done before, on or after that date.

Interpretation

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• (1) In these Regulations—

• “the 1998 Act” means the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998;

• “the 2002 Act” means the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002[^f00003];

• “applicant” means a person applying for an HESC loan;

• “current course” means the HE short course in respect of which an applicant applies for an HESC loan;

• “electronic signature” is so much of anything in electronic form as—is incorporated into or logically associated with any electronic communication or electronic data, andpurports to be so incorporated or associated for the purposes of being used in establishing the authenticity of the communication or data, the integrity of the date, or both;

• “eligible prisoner” means a prisoner—who is serving a sentence of imprisonment in the United Kingdom, who has been authorised by the prison Governor or Director or other appropriate authority to study the current course, andwhose earliest release date is within 6 years of the first day of the current course;

• “eligible student” has the meaning given in regulation 3;

• “European Economic Area” means the areas comprised by the EEA states;

• “fee loan” means a loan for fees made to an eligible student pursuant to regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 22 of the 1998 Act;

• “fees” has the meaning given for the purposes of Part 1 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (see section 85(2) of that Act)[^f00004];

• “HE short course” means a course designated by the Secretary of State under regulation 4;

• “HESC loan” means a fee loan made pursuant to these Regulations;

• “higher education course” means a course providing education (whether or not in preparation for an examination) the standard of which—is higher than the standard of a course in preparation for examination for the General Certificate of Secondary Education, butis not higher than the standard of a first degree course;

• “information” includes documents;

• “institution” means an organisation delivering higher education courses;

• “the Islands” means Channel Islands and the Isle of Man;

• “loan”, except where otherwise indicated, means a loan made pursuant to regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 22 of the 1998 Act, and includes the interest accrued on the loan and any penalties or charges incurred in connection with it;

• “overseas territories” means Anguilla; ... Bermuda; British Antarctic Territory; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten); Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Faroe Islands; French Polynesia; French Southern and Antarctic Territories; Gibraltar; Mayotte; Greenland; Montserrat; ... Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; St Barthélemy; St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; St Pierre et Miquelon; the Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies; Turks and Caicos Islands; and Wallis and Futuna;

• “period of eligibility”, in relation to an eligible student, has the meaning given in regulation 5;

• “specified British overseas territories” means Anguilla; Bermuda; British Antarctic Territory; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; and Turks and Caicos Islands.

• (2) In these Regulations, the following terms have the meanings given in paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 1—

• (aa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (a) “person granted Calais leave”;

• (b) “person granted humanitarian protection”;

• (c) “person granted indefinite leave to remain as a bereaved partner”;

• (d) “person granted indefinite leave to enter or remain as a victim of domestic violence or domestic abuse”;

• (e) “person granted leave under one of the Afghan Schemes”;

• (ea) “person granted leave under one of the Ukraine Schemes”

• (f) “person granted section 67 leave”;

• (g) “person granted stateless leave”;

• (h) “person with protected rights”;

• (i) “refugee”;

• (j) “residence scheme immigration rules”;

• (k) “Turkish worker”.

• (3) For the purposes of these Regulations, a reference to the United Kingdom and Islands is a reference to the United Kingdom and the Islands taken together.

• (4) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person is not to be treated as ordinarily resident in a place unless that person lawfully resides in that place (but see regulation 7(3) and (4)).

• (5) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person who is ordinarily resident in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or the Islands, as a result of having moved from another of those areas for the purposes of undertaking—

• (a) the current course, or

• (b) a course which, disregarding any intervening vacation, the person undertook immediately before the current course,

is to be considered to be ordinarily resident in the place from which that person moved.

• (6) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person (“A”) is to be treated as ordinarily resident in an area if A would have been so resident but for the fact that—

• (a) A,

• (b) A’s spouse or civil partner,

• (c) A’s parent, or

• (d) in the case of a dependent direct relative in the ascending line, A’s child or child’s spouse or civil partner,

is or was temporarily employed outside the area in question.

• (7) For the purposes of paragraph (6), temporary employment outside the area in question includes—

• (a) in the case of members of the regular naval, military or air forces of the Crown, any period which they serve outside the United Kingdom as members of such forces;

• (b) in the case of members of the regular armed forces of a specified British overseas territory, any period which they serve outside the territory comprising the United Kingdom and the specified British overseas territories as members of such forces;

• (c) in the case of members of the regular armed forces of the Republic of Ireland, any period which they serve outside the territory comprising the United Kingdom, the Islands and the Republic of Ireland as members of such forces;

• (d) in the case of members of the regular armed forces of an EEA State or Switzerland, any period which they serve outside the territory comprising the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, the European Economic Area and Switzerland as members of such forces;

• (e) in the case of members of the regular armed forces of Turkey, any period which they serve outside the territory comprising the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, the European Economic Area, Switzerland and Turkey as members of such forces;

• (f) in the case of members of the regular armed forces of an EU overseas territory, any period which they serve outside the territory comprising the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the overseas territories.

• (8) For the purposes of these Regulations, an area, other than the United Kingdom or Gibraltar, which—

• (a) was previously not part of the EU or the European Economic Area, but

• (b) at any time before or after these Regulations come into force has become part of one or other or both of those areas,

is to be considered to have always been a part of the European Economic Area.

• (9) For the purposes of these Regulations, an eligible prisoner is to be considered ordinarily resident in the part of the United Kingdom where the prisoner resided prior to sentencing.

PART 2 — Eligibility

Eligible students

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• (1) An eligible student qualifies for an HESC loan in connection with their undertaking an HE short course in accordance with this regulation.

• (2) A person (“P”) is an eligible student in connection with an HE short course if—

• (a) in assessing P’s application for an HESC loan, the Secretary of State determines that either—

• (i) P falls within one of the categories set out in Part 2 of Schedule 1, and has ratified any agreement for a loan (other than an excluded agreement) made with P when P was under the age of 18, or

• (ii) P is a returning student,

• (b) P is not in breach of any obligation to repay any loan, and

• (c) P has not, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, shown by P’s conduct that P is unfitted to receive support.

• (3) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a)(i)—

• “borrower” means an eligible student to whom a fee loan has been made;

• “excluded agreement” means an agreement for a loan which is subject to the law of Scotland and was made—on or after 25th September 1991, orbefore that date, without the concurrence of the borrower’s curator or at a time when the borrower had no curator;

• “loan” means a loan under any provision of—the Education (Scotland) Act 1980[^f00005];the Education (Student Loans) Act 1990[^f00006];regulations made under either of those Acts or the 1998 Act;the Education (Student Loans) (Northern Ireland) Order 1990[^f00007];the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998[^f00008];regulations made under either of those Orders.

• (4) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a)(ii), P is a returning student if—

• (a) P took out an HESC loan in connection with a course which began before the current course (referred to in this regulation as a “previous course”),

• (b) P begins the current course within the period of 12 months beginning with the first day of the previous course, and

• (c) there has been no relevant change in P’s circumstances since P was determined to be an eligible student in connection with the previous course.

• (5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)(c), there is a relevant change in P’s circumstances if—

• (a) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of P being ordinarily resident in England, or the United Kingdom, P has ceased to be ordinarily resident in England or, as the case may be, the United Kingdom;

• (b) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of P undertaking the course in England, P has ceased to undertake the course in England;

• (c) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of P being a refugee, or the spouse, civil partner, child or step-child of a refugee (“R”)—

• (i) the refugee status of P or, as the case may be, R has expired, ...

• (ii) no further leave to remain has been granted and no appeal is pending (within the meaning of section 104 of the 2002 Act[^f00009]) , and

• (iii) the person (P or R) whose refugee status has expired has not become a British or Irish citizen;

• (d) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of P being a person with humanitarian protection, or the spouse, civil partner, child or step-child of a person with humanitarian protection (“H”)—

• (i) the period for which P or, as the case may be, H is allowed to stay in the United Kingdom has expired, ...

• (ii) no further leave to remain is granted and no appeal is pending (within the meaning of section 104 of the 2002 Act) , and

• (iii) the person (P or H) whose period for which they are allowed to stay in the United Kingdom has expired has not become a British or Irish citizen;

• (e) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of P being a person granted Calais leave, a person granted section 67 leave or a person granted stateless leave, or the spouse, civil partner, child or step-child of any such person (“S”)—

• (i) the period for which P or, as the case may be, S is allowed to stay in the United Kingdom, or the United Kingdom and Islands, has expired, ...

• (ii) no further leave to remain has been granted , and

• (iii) the person (P or S) whose period for which they are allowed to stay in the United Kingdom has expired has not become a British or Irish citizen;

• (f) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of P being a person with protected rights with limited leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom granted by virtue of residence scheme immigration rules—

• (i) P no longer has extant limited leave to enter or remain granted by virtue of those rules, ...

• (ii) no further leave to enter or remain has been granted under those rules , and

• (iii) P has not become a British or Irish citizen;

• (g) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of P being a person falling within paragraph (a)(iii) or (iv) of the definition of “person with protected rights” or meeting the conditions in paragraph 5(1)(a)(iii) of Part 2 of Schedule 1, P has ceased to be a person with protected rights and has not become a British or Irish citizen;

• (h) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of being—

• (i) a person granted leave under one of the Afghan Schemes, or

• (ii) the spouse, civil partner, child or step-child of a person (“A”) granted leave under one of the Afghan Schemes,

the period for which P, or, as the case may be, A, is allowed to stay in the United Kingdom has expired and the person (P or A) whose period for which they are allowed to stay in the United Kingdom has expired has not become a British or Irish citizen;

• (i) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of being—

• (i) a person granted leave under one of the Ukraine Schemes, or

• (ii) the spouse, civil partner, child or step-child of a person (“U”) granted leave under one of the Ukraine Schemes,

the period for which P, or, as the case may be, U, is allowed to stay in the United Kingdom has expired and the person (P or U) whose period for which they are allowed to stay in the United Kingdom has expired has not become a British or Irish citizen.

• (j) where the Secretary of State determined that P was an eligible student in connection with the reference course by virtue of paragraph 25 of Schedule 1 (long residence), the period for which P is allowed to stay in the United Kingdom has expired and P has not become a British or Irish citizen.

• (6) For the purposes of paragraph (5), the reference course is—

• (a) the previous course in connection with P’s application for an HESC loan for the current course, or

• (b) where P was determined to be a returning student in connection with the previous course mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) (“course A”)—

• (i) the HE short course which was the previous course in connection with P’s application for an HESC loan for course A, or

• (ii) where P was determined to be a returning student in connection with the previous course mentioned in paragraph (i) (“course B”), the HE short course which was the previous course in connection with P’s application for an HESC loan for course B.

• (7) If P is an eligible prisoner, P may qualify for an HESC loan under this regulation in respect of an HE short course which is taking place at the time when they enter prison, are in prison or are released from prison.

Designated courses

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• (1) A higher education course may be designated by the Secretary of State for the purposes of section 22(1) of the 1998 Act where the course—

• (a) begins—

• (i) on or after 1st September 2022, and

• (ii) on or before 31st July 2025,

• (b) ends before 1st September 2025,

• (c) is of no more than 12 months duration,

• (d) has a size, in credits, of 30 or 40,

• (e) is being provided by an institution which is situated in England, and

• (f) is substantially provided in England.

• (2) The Secretary of State must publish, in such manner as the Secretary of State considers appropriate, a list of courses designated under paragraph (1).