Consultation outcome

Student support for non-UK nationals who have lived in the UK for a long time

From:: Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
Published: 2 December 2015
Last updated: 26 April 2016 — See all updates

Read the full outcome

New eligibility category for higher education student support - government response

Ref: BIS/16/199

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New eligibility category for higher education student support - equality impact analysis

Ref: BIS/16/200

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Detail of outcome

We are introducing new long residency eligibility criteria for student support for those entering higher education.

Applicants can qualify for student support for a higher education course if they are:

under 18 years of age and have lived in the UK for at least 7 years (including 3 years’ lawful ordinary residence before the first day of the first academic year of the course)
aged 18 years and above and have either spent at least half their life in the UK or at least 20 years in the UK (including 3 years’ lawful ordinary residence before the first day of the first academic year of the course)

We plan to make these change to the regulations for the 2016/2017 academic year.

Detail of feedback received

There were 136 responses to the consultation. These mainly came from:

individuals
advocacy groups
higher education institutions

There were also a small number of responses from stakeholder groups representing the higher education sector and students.

Original consultation

Consultation description

We intend to introduce new eligibility criteria for student support to allow people who have a long residential connection to the UK to enter higher education.

A recent Supreme Court judgment required the government to consider adopting more tailored eligibility criteria for those without settled status. This new criteria will avoid breaching the rights of similar applicants.

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