Report 98/45

Access Funds 1998-99

Allocation and terms and conditions for payment of grants

Executive summary

Purpose

1. This publication sets out the Council's allocation of Access Funds in 1998-99 and requests monitoring information on their use.

Key points

2. This document supersedes all previous guidance. It includes:

• terms and conditions for the payment of Access Funds
• audit requirements
• residence requirements (see also Annex A)
• guidance to institutions on the distribution of funds (see also Annex B)
• allocation of Access Funds to institutions for the 1998-99 academic year (see also Annex C)
• monitoring information required from institutions by 30 September 1999 (see also Annex D)
• information on tax relief (Annex E).
  

Action required

3. We require monitoring information on the use of 1998-99 Access Funds by 30 September 1999.

Introduction

4. The Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) has increased the amount of Access Funds available to higher education institutions in 1998-99 to £45.76 million. It has set new terms and conditions for their payment.

5. Access Funds can now be used to help full-time and part-time students who may not otherwise be able to afford a course in further or higher education, or who have problems meeting their living costs, for whatever reason. This includes students with physical or other disabilities. The funds include £3 million to provide fee remission for part-time students who become unemployed during the course of their studies.

Eligibility

6. The DfEE's terms and conditions state that Access Funds may be used only to help students from one of the following three groups:

a. Postgraduates - all home students following full-time or part-time courses of higher education studying at a level above first degree.

b. Higher education students - all home students, following full-time (including sandwich, but excluding year-out) or part-time courses of higher education, other than postgraduates.

c. Further education students - all home students, following full-time (including sandwich, but excluding year-out) or part-time courses of further education, who are aged 19 or over.

7. Students on part-time courses are those working to a minimum of 60 credit points in an academic year, where the full-time equivalent (FTE) is 120 credit points in a year; or those studying at least 50 per cent of a full-time course.

8. Access Funds cannot be used to help students in either of the following groups:

a. Those eligible for a student loan in the relevant academic year but who have decided not to take one out; or students starting their course in the 1998-99 academic year or subsequently who have not taken out the maximum student loan for which they are eligible.

b. Those who receive a non means-tested NHS bursary, or who are salaried NHS employees.

9. To be eligible for remission of part-time tuition fees, the student must be enrolled on a part-time undergraduate course leading to a degree or diploma. In addition to meeting the definition of a part-time student in paragraph 7, students must satisfy the institution that they were employed or self-employed at the time of entering higher education, and have lost that work through no fault of their own.

10. Where an institution gives Access Funds to a part-time student who becomes unemployed, to assist with their tuition fees, the Access Funds should not exceed the fees the institution would normally have charged. Institutions should calculate the fees as a reasonable proportion of the amount which students would be charged for attendance on that course if they were a full-time student eligible for the maximum award under the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations 1998 (or any regulations replacing those regulations).

11. In each case, 'home students' means people who satisfy certain conditions of eligibility for a student loan. These conditions are explained in Annex A.

Priority cases

12. The DfEE has asked institutions to give priority to applications from mature students and those entering higher education from care.

Bursaries

13. The DfEE has stated that institutions may use up to 5 per cent of their Access Funds to offer scholarships or bursaries to help full-time undergraduates meet their living costs. These should be provided to help students who might otherwise be deterred from entering higher education because of the costs. Institutions may not use Access Funds to pay a full-time student's tuition fees. The normal maximum limit of £3,000 applies to scholarships and bursaries. For further details, please see paragraph 2 of the DfEE's guidance for institutions at Annex B.

Funds available

14. There are three categories of Access Funds for students in publicly funded higher education institutions:

a. The Postgraduate Fund - for home full-time and part-time students studying at a level above first degree.

b. The Undergraduate Fund - for home full-time (including sandwich course) and part-time students in higher education, other than postgraduates.

c. The Further Education Fund - for home full-time (including sandwich course) and part-time students, aged 19 or over, following further education courses in higher education institutions.

15. The breakdown of Access Funds for 1998-99 is:

• Undergraduate Fund - £39.44 million
• Postgraduate Fund - £5.5 million
• Further Education Fund - £0.82 million.
  

16. The DfEE has allocated an additional £10.24 million pounds for Access Funds to the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) for HE students in further education colleges.

17. We have subtracted £34,816 for allocation to the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) for schools-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) students. We are still responsible for distributing Access Funds to higher education institutions with other ITT students.

18. Allocations to individual institutions are shown in Annex C. Payments will be made in four instalments: in September 1998, January 1999, March 1999 and April 1999.

How we allocate Access Funds between institutions

19. Up to 1997-98, we based Access Funds allocations on historical levels, with small adjustments for growth in student numbers. The original allocations were based on full-time student numbers. We also used a weighting factor which represented the proportion of students at each institution living in privately-rented accommodation, to reflect living costs.

20. We have changed the allocation method because part-time students have become eligible from 1998-99, and the purposes of the funds have changed.

21. We consider that it is no longer appropriate to weight allocations to institutions using the number of students living in privately-rented accommodation. Extending Access Funds to include part-time students means that the proportion of all students living in privately-rented accommodation is no longer an accurate indicator of students' needs at a particular institution. Part-time students are predominantly mature. They are less likely to live in privately-rented accommodation than younger full-time students.

22. Funds are partly to help students whose access to higher education might be inhibited by financial factors. Therefore, we have included a weighting for students from poor neighbourhoods ('Poor' neighbourhoods are defined as those which accounted for the poorest quarter of English young people (aged 18 and 19) in 1994. For more details see 'The Influence of Neighbourhood Type on Participation in Higher Education - Interim Report', HEFCE, April 1997) because they are, on average, more likely to require financial assistance. In keeping with our teaching funding method, student numbers will be based on FTEs, taking into consideration the eligibility criteria in paragraph 7 for part-time students.

23. As explained in paragraph 14, there are three categories of Access Funds. Within each of these categories, eligible student FTEs are split by mode of study (full-time or part-time); age group (mature - aged 25 or over, young mature - aged 21 to 24 inclusive, young - under 21); and affluence (determined from geodemographic analysis).

24. We apply additional weightings to some categories of student FTEs:

We then allocate each fund between institutions in proportion to their weighted eligible student FTEs.

25. Within the Undergraduate Fund, we have allocated £3 million - for fee remission for part-time students who become unemployed during the course of their studies - according to institutions' part-time numbers.

26. Although it is recognised that there may be cases of justifiable need for some postgraduate part-time students, the Government's priority has been to increase funding for undergraduates. There has been no increase in the value of the Postgraduate Fund. For this reason, the distribution of the postgraduate funds has not taken into account part-time postgraduate volume. If monitoring indicates that demand from part-time postgraduates is greater than expected, the funding allocation may be revised for future years.

27. Historically, some institutions received much higher levels of Access Funds, in relation to their student numbers, than others. For a few institutions, the application of the new allocation method, even with the increase in overall funds, would have resulted in a reduction. We have decided that, in 1998-99, no institution should receive less than it received in 1997-98. The extra money needed for this has been found by limiting the maximum increase available to institutions.

Appeals

28. We are responsible for resolving any appeals from, or disputes with, institutions about the amount of Access Funds they have been allocated.

Financial conditions and audit

29. The DfEE requires us to allocate Access Funds to institutions within the higher education sector: 'so that they may provide financial help to those whose access to further or higher education might be inhibited by financial considerations or who, for whatever reason, including physical or other disabilities, face financial difficulties associated with their living costs. It may not be given for the purpose of assisting in meeting the tuition fees for full-time students or part-time students except in the special case of fee remission for part-time undergraduate students who lose their jobs during their course of study.'

30. The DfEE sets terms and conditions for payment of Access Funds to institutions. These are in addition to the Financial Memorandum between the Council and each institution. The terms and conditions include the following:

• Access Funds are to be used only for the purposes specified in paragraph 29 above
• funds should be made available only to eligible students as defined in paragraph 6
• the interest on Access Funds must either be paid to students, or used to defray audit costs.
  

31. The DfEE requires institutions to follow its guidance notes on the payment of Access Funds. These are at Annex B.

32. We strongly encourage institutions to use their full allocation of Access Funds. Underspend cannot be redeployed for other purposes in higher education.

Audit requirements

33. We require each institution's auditors to certify that the Access Funds, and any interest earned on them, have been applied in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant. This can be done by accounting for the Access Funds within the main audited accounts that each institution sends us by 31 December. Access Funds should not be treated as income, but as a balance sheet item. Institutions should show in the note to their audited accounts how the Access Funds were used in the previous academic year, giving receipts, payments and the closing balance.

34. Institutions must identify in their monitoring returns any interest accrued on Access Funds balances.

35. Any Access Funds which have not been paid to students by 31 August 1999 must be returned to us not later than 31 October 1999. This includes any interest earned which has not been paid to students, or used to defray audit costs.

Monitoring

36. The DfEE has prescribed the nature and extent of monitoring. We therefore require institutions to return the monitoring information specified in Annex D. This will enable us to report to the Secretary of State on the use of Access Funds.

37. Please return monitoring information for 1998-99 no later than 30 September 1999 to:

Alasdair Liddell
HEFCE
Northavon House
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol BS16 1QD

Annex A

Conditions relating to residence

(The Department for Education and Employment has supplied the following information.)

1. Unless he (Where appropriate, read 'she' or 'her', for 'he', or 'his'.) holds a LEA discretionary award under section 1(6) of the Education Act 1962 awarded prior to 1994/95, and subject to special rules for European nationals and assistance with fees, the student must fall within a category mentioned in Schedule 1 to the Education (Student Support) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/211) [or the equivalent categories in the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 1998 or the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1998] in order to be eligible for grant from Access Funds. The following is only a summary of the categories, and the Schedule should be referred to for a definitive list of the categories.

2. Taking first of all the most straightforward type of case, a student will meet the requirements if:

a. on the first day of his course, if it is on or after 1 August 1997, he is settled in the United Kingdom within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971, and

b. for the three years preceding that date he has been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom wholly or mainly for purposes other than receiving full-time education.

3. In applying these rules, institutions will need to take account of the following:

a. a student will be settled in the United Kingdom if he is ordinarily resident and is not subject under immigration law to any restriction on the length of his stay;

b. a person is not subject to any restriction on the length of his stay in the United Kingdom if he is a British citizen or if his passport has been stamped to the effect that the holder has an indefinite right of residence in the United Kingdom;

c. evidence of British citizenship is a UK passport stating that the holder is a British citizen, or a UK birth certificate, coupled with evidence of identity;

d. a student who has lived outside the UK and Islands during all or part of the three year period mentioned above because he or his family were temporarily employed abroad may be treated as if his ordinary residence had not been interrupted; and

e. a student who lived in the UK and Islands during the three year period mentioned above but who would not have done so if he had not been attending a full-time course would not meet the above requirements.

Settled status

4. The requirement for settlement within the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 is new, and only applies in relation to students starting courses on or after 1 August 1997. (See paragraph 11 below in relation to existing students.)

5. In certain circumstances, outlined below, students can meet the residence requirements even though they do not meet the three year and settled status rules. Further guidance on ordinary residence is given in paragraphs 9 and 10 below.

Refugees and those granted exceptional leave to remain

6. The residence conditions do not apply to a student who has been granted refugee status in the UK, or whose parent (including step parent) or spouse has been granted that status. Such a student is eligible to receive Access Funds as soon as refugee status has been granted. However, students who have been granted exceptional leave to remain are not eligible until they have satisfied the three year ordinary residence rule mentioned above, although they are not required to satisfy the requirements of settled status.

EEA migrant workers

7. European Economic Area nationals employed in the UK, including UK nationals, their spouses and their children, who do not pass the three year ordinary residence test will meet the residence requirements provided that:

(i) the EEA national has "migrant worker status" through having been employed in the UK (not necessarily continuously) since he last entered the UK (brief absences abroad, e.g. on holiday, should be disregarded); in the case of a UK national having moved to the UK after a period of employment elsewhere in the EEA;

(ii) where the student is the spouse or child of the EEA national with migrant worker status, the student is ordinarily resident in the UK as a result of the migrant worker's employment in the UK; and

(iii) the student has been ordinarily resident in the EEA (the European Community, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) throughout the period covered by the three year rule, and has not during any part of that period been so resident wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education.

European students

8. There is an additional category of student who will be eligible for grant from Access Funds, where it is for assistance with remission of tuition fees for part-time students. This category comprises any student who is a national of another member state of the European Community, or who is the child of such a national, and who has been ordinarily resident in the EEA throughout the three years preceding his course. His residence in the EEA must not have been wholly or mainly for the purpose of his receiving full time education.

Definition of ordinary residence

9. Interpretation of "ordinary residence" is, in the last resort, a matter for the courts.  A judgement by the House of Lords in 1982 (Shah v. Barnet London Borough Council, reported in [1983] 2 WLR 16) clarified the law.  It held that ordinary residence is habitual and normal residence from choice for a settled purpose apart from temporary or occasional absences. The Department can offer advice in such cases but is not able to provide definitive rulings.

10. Temporary or occasional absences from the British Islands do not break ordinary residence.  For example, trips abroad on holiday or for business would not normally break ordinary residence. As the courts have not defined "temporary or occasional", each case must be judged on its own facts.  Institutions should not apply universal rules of thumb or specified periods of time to decide what constitutes a temporary or occasional absence.  Further, for these purposes, absences abroad because the student, his spouse or his parent was temporarily employed abroad will not be considered to break ordinary residence in the UK even though the absence would not otherwise be regarded as temporary or occasional.

Existing students

11. The position of students who began their course before 1 August 1997 will not be affected by the new requirement for settled status. A student who completes his course and embarks immediately on a second course (an 'end-on' course) will not need to fulfil the settled status requirement.

12. Institutions should note that an applicant's immigration status may readily be established or verified by reference to the stamp or stamps in his passport or travelling document. If an applicant's case is currently under consideration by the Home Office he should be able to produce documentary evidence of this consideration.

13. If an applicant's immigration status is not clear, institutions can contact the Immigration Status Enquiry Unit (ISEU) at the Home Office which deals with all enquiries about known asylum seekers.  Addresses for these are given at the end of this Annex.

Further advice

14. The information above is a summary of the principal points likely to be of relevance to institutions. More detailed information is available in the DfEE publication Eligibility Guide for Student Loans: A Step by Step Guide for Colleges 1998/99, which can be obtained from:

Student Support Division
Further and Higher Education and Youth Training Directorate
Department for Education and Employment
Room 215
Mowden Hall
Darlington
Co. Durham
DL3 9BG
(Tel: 01325 392822).

The Home Office enquiry points given below operate independently and if advice from both is required it will be necessary to write to both separately.

Immigration Status Enquiry Unit
3rd Floor
Apollo House
Wellesley Road
CROYDON
Surrey
CR9 2BY
Tel: 0181 760 8686

Asylum Screening Unit
2nd Floor
Lunar House
Wellesley Road
CROYDON
Surrey
CR9 2BY

Annex B

Guidance notes for institutions

(The Department for Education and Employment has supplied the following information.)

Payments

1. The Secretary of State has decided that priority for the use of the Funds should be given to cases of difficulty in meeting living costs or, in the case of part-time undergraduate students who have lost their jobs during their course of study, to remission of tuition fees. The Funds should be targeted to students in particular need. Very small payments are inconsistent with this. The minimum payment should be £100, other than in exceptional circumstances. Very large individual payments to a few students disproportionately reduce the amount of Funds available for other cases of hardship. Normally, individuals should not receive payments totalling more than £3000 from the Access Funds towards living costs in any one academic year. Access Funds, therefore, cannot ordinarily be used to provide additional studentships or postgraduate bursaries. In the case of fee remission for part-time students who lose their jobs during their course of study, the maximum payment should be the appropriate pro rata share of the £1000 full-time undergraduate fee.

2. Institutions may wish to consider using the Funds to provide scholarships or bursaries to assist with meeting the living costs (but not the tuition fees) of full-time undergraduate students who would otherwise be deterred from entering higher education because of their financial circumstances. Such assistance is however subject to the maximum limit (of £3,000) set out in paragraph one above and the maximum number of students helped in this way in any one year should not exceed five per cent of the institution's intake of new undergraduate students. Institutions will wish to ensure that, having regard to the available resources, a disproportionate amount of Funds is not being used to recruit those who would otherwise be deterred rather than meeting cases of hardship ensuing after students have started their courses.

3. Institutions are free to determine the balance of support from their Funds between full-time and part-time students. It is for each institution to decide individual applications for payments from its Access Funds within the criteria laid down by the Secretary of State and the Funding Council. Institutions are asked to ensure that the need for a payment is in each case properly supported by evidence of a gap between income and expenditure, and in the special case of part-time tuition fee remission, additional evidence of employment history.

4. Institutions are asked to give priority consideration to:

a. students who have entered higher education from care as these students must make their own arrangements for accommodation during vacations; and

b. mature students aged 25 or over who may have greater financial commitments than younger students.

Student loans

5. These are an integral part of the system of student support. Students who are eligible for a student loan are of course free to decide whether to take out a loan and, if so, how much to borrow. However, institutions should not make Access Funds payments to students who are eligible for a student loan in an academic year but who have decided not to take one out. Those students commencing their course in the 1998/99 academic year or subsequently and therefore eligible for top up loans must have taken out the maximum student loan available to them before any payment is made from the Access Funds. In normal circumstances eligible students should also have taken out a £250 Hardship Loan before any payment is made from the Access Funds. However institutions are able to exercise their discretion in particular cases where they feel that a payment from the Access Funds is justified without the £250 Hardship Loan having been taken out.

6. Institutions should take account of the following factors when considering applications:

a. whether the claimed gap between income and expenditure constitutes real need and cannot reasonably be reduced to a manageable level through action by the student;

b. the availability of support from other sources; and

c. whether in some cases payment should be in instalments subject to further review, or in the form of a short term repayable loan, rather than a one off-grant.

7. Assistance from the Access Funds may be given in the form of a cash payment to the student or to a third party, or through the provision of items or services for the student on an individual basis or in the form of a short term repayable loan. Large items of equipment bought for the use of individual students should remain the property of the institution.

8. Institutions should seek to ensure that applications are processed within a reasonable time. Students might reasonably expect to receive a decision within 4 weeks of applying. (Where decisions are due to be taken at particular times during the year, the dates should be publicised).

9. The following are some examples of good practice in the ways that the Funds can be targeted to students in genuine need:

a. Publicity should as far as possible be directed towards students who may need assistance most, and not presented so as to suggest that all eligible students will receive payments. It may be helpful to consult counselling staff, personal tutors or student representatives on ways of achieving well-directed publicity.

b. Counselling on money management may help ensure that assistance provided from the Access Funds is not wasted. Some institutions find group workshops effective.

c. Institutions will wish to consider what form of documentary evidence should be provided by the student to show that a student loan has been taken out prior to applying for support from the Access Funds, and make this clear to students. The Department recommends asking the student to provide a signed copy of his/her Loan Agreement Form as evidence.

10 The Access Funds should not be used for any of the following:

a. to provide group or communal facilities;

b. adaptations to buildings; or

c. to meet staff salaries or any costs of administering or publicising the Funds.

11. Access Funds should not be used to meet tuition fees (except in the special case of fee remission for part-time undergraduate students who lose their jobs during their course of study) and, as a general rule, should not be used to make good failure to receive the parental contribution towards student maintenance.

Home students

12. Eligibility for grants from Access Funds depends on the student being a "home student" i.e. a person referred to in Schedule 1 to the Education (Student Support) Regulations 1998 [or the equivalent categories in the Education (Student Loans) (Scotland) Regulations 1998 or the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1998]. Detailed definitions and guidance notes are provided in Annex A. However, in the context of assistance with tuition fees for part-time students who lose their jobs during their course of study, students who are nationals of another member state of the European Community, and who meet the residence criteria referred to in Annex A, should also be eligible for assistance.

Temporary suspension of study

13. In considering requests for support from the Access Funds from students who have temporarily suspended their studies e.g. through illness, or who may be experiencing difficulty in finding a placement in industry as an essential part of their course, institutions should first check whether the student continues to be registered as a student and take into account:

a. the prospect of the student resuming his or her course; and

b. the availability of support from other sources.

Provision for summer term and the long vacation

14. Some students find that they need financial assistance late in the academic year, perhaps because they have not been able to find temporary employment for the long vacation. Institutions are recommended to hold back some of their Access Funds, and keep in place arrangements for considering late applications. A need for assistance in the long vacation may apply in particular to those who have entered higher education from care, as mentioned in paragraph 4 above.

NHS students

15. Students who are in receipt of a non means tested NHS bursary or who are salaried NHS employees are not eligible.

Part-time undergraduate students who have lost their job

16. Institutions are advised that, as a general rule, for a student to be eligible for consideration for fee remission he should be able to show that he was employed for at least 20 hours a week, or working as a self-employed person for at least 20 hours a week, when he entered higher education, and has been so working for a minimum of six months before losing the job or ceasing to be self-employed through no fault of his own.

Appeals

17. It is for individual institutions to consider and resolve appeals by students in respect of applications for an Access Funds payment and to establish a procedure for this purpose if they consider that appropriate. Appeals should not be referred to the Funding Council or the Secretary of State.

Advice to students

18. Applicants for help should be advised that payments from the Access Funds may have implications for their entitlement to social security benefits, particularly income support, housing benefit, family credit and certain payments from the Social Fund.

19. From 1 January 1997, students who receive Access Funds may be entitled to tax relief for vocational training. Tax relief cannot normally be claimed for the costs of books, equipment, travelling or subsistence connected with the training. Annex E contains further information.

Annex C

Allocation of Access Funds 1998-99

This table is available as an Excel spreadsheet.

Annex D

Monitoring

1. The DfEE asks the Council to provide the Secretary of State with a commentary on the use of Access Funds, consulting institutions as necessary. This information will help in evaluating the performance of the funds, and inform future decisions on their purpose.

2. We are also asked to collect detailed information for each year from individual institutions, and submit this in summary form to the DfEE.

3. Please provide the following monitoring information, using the forms provided, and return it to us by 30 September 1999.

Table 1 Students applying for HE Access Funds

Table 2 Details of payments

Table 3 Reasons for payments

*Access Funds may not be used to help students pay tuition fees, except in the case of PT UG students who subsequently become unemployed. Please record such payments here.

Table 4 Refusals

Table 5 Loans to be repaid in subsequent years

Table 6 Repayments from loans given in previous years

Table 7 Periodic information on funds given and interest earned

Annex E

Tax relief for vocational training

1. Students (whether or not they pay income tax) may deduct basic rate tax relief at source from payments made for course fees, registration and examination fees, fees payable for assessment purposes (including assessment of prior learning), and for any consequent award or certificate, or entry in an official register. Basic rate relief will be given at source for payments made by individuals for training which can count towards a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ). Higher rate tax payers can claim further tax relief on their tax return by writing to their Tax Office. Tax relief is also available for training which does not involve NVQs, to those aged 30 or over paying for full-time vocational courses lasting between four weeks and one year.

2. Tax relief cannot normally be claimed for the costs of books, equipment, travelling or subsistence connected with the training. Exceptions to this rule are:

a.. Any printed course materials (or audio, video or computer-based materials) of the sort normally provided 'in-house', for example for open learning courses, which are integral to the training and not available commercially.

b. The costs of any residential study weekends which are an integral part of the course.

3. The above information is only a summary of relevant provisions. Institutions and students should get in touch with the Inland Revenue to determine entitlement to any relief. Further information can be obtained from:

Inland Revenue Financial Investments Claims Organisation (advice on schemes)
St John's House
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside L69 9BB
Tel: 0151 472 7037