States of Jersey Complaints Board: findings – complaint by Mr. and Mrs. A. against a decision of the Minister for Education regarding an appeal in respect of the student grant for their son (Mr. A. (Junior)) – response of the Minister

Board's Recommendations

Department's Response

6(xi) Information provided to Public is unclear and ambiguous

The  Department  is  currently  going  through  the process  of  comparing  the  2 Discretionary  Grants Orders listed above with the advice in the Guide to Higher Education Awards and the gov.je website. We will  endeavour  to  make  the  documentation  that supports  our  students,  under-graduates  and  post- graduates as simple as it can possibly be.

6(xii) The Department's policy to awarding maintenance grants is based solely on the length of the course, and the Board feel that this should be clear in the legislation and the guidance

The Amounts Order has been changed to reflect a more  time-based  approach  to  maintenance calculation. We accept that mentioning a specific course in the legislation could be confusing, and will look to change that as part of the fundamental review of the Orders mentioned above. We will change the narrative around the maintenance bands to make the principles even clearer.

6(xiii) Award maintenance grants on a set weekly amount

This will not be possible, due firstly to the time it would take to get verification from the universities (which  would  cause  delay  in  getting  funding  to students),  and  secondly  the  significant  resource implications  this  would  have  for  the  Education Department.

6(xiv) The Board is critical of the Department's application of Article 16A of the Education (Discretionary Grants – General) (Jersey) Order 2008 –

Field Trips

We accept that Article 16A is open to interpretation. We will discuss this further with the Law Officers, take advice, and look to amend if necessary.

Board's Recommendations

Department's Response

6(xv) Lack of knowledge of Article and reimbursement for travel

The Department does have detailed knowledge of this Article, but felt that it was not appropriate to use it in this case. On 2 occasions the complainant was offered  the  opportunity  to  have  travel  costs reimbursed, and was required to provide evidence that peers had received this funding from the NHS. Student Finance did not receive any reply.

We will ensure that this option is clearly advertised on the website.

6(xvi) Including STIA and LTIA in assessments

The Department does consider STIA and LTIA as income in relation to the assessment, even though they are not taxable income under Article 77AA of the Income Tax Law.

The  rules  applied  by  the  Social  Security  and Education  Department  in  relation  to  income assessments are separate, and it is appropriate that the definition  of  income  for  income/income  support purposes is wider than that used in the Income Tax Law.