2023/24 residency policy changes

There are 4 policy changes for residency for 2023/24

• The date of residency requirements has been amended from the 1st day of the 1st academic year to the 1st day of the course for certain categories
• The requirement to be lawfully resident on the 1st day of the course for certain categories qualifying via an ‘event’ has been removed
• Residency address history checks have been capped at a maximum of 3 years for certain categories
• The standard residency requirements that apply to learners applying via an ‘event’ have been reinstated

Amending the date of residency requirements from the 1st day of the 1st academic year to the 1st day of the course for certain categories

Prior to 2023/24 learners within the protected categories, as well as DVLR and Bereaved Partner learners needed to be resident in their domicile on the first day of the first academic year of their course.

From AY 2023/24 onwards, learners in the following categories will instead need to be resident in their domicile on the first day of the first term of their course:

• Calais leave
• Section 67
• Stateless Persons
• Humanitarian protection
• Refugees
• ARAP/ACRS
• Ukraine Schemes
• Domestic Violence Leave to Remain
• Bereaved Partners

This change will also apply to any qualifying family member who is eligible for support via their relationship with an individual within these residency categories.

Removal of the requirement to be lawfully resident on the 1st day of the course for certain categories qualifying via an ‘event’

Prior to 2023/24, when a person is granted leave to remain by the Home Office via DVLR/Bereaved Partners/any of the existing eligible “protection-based categories”, they can use this status as an event and qualify for support part-way through their course.

However, to do so, learners still need to be ordinarily resident in England on the 1st day of the 1st academic year/day of the course. Some people may find this more difficult than others because they may have been in the UK unlawfully before being granted their DVLR/Bereaved Partner/protection-based leave.

These categories do not carry the standard three-year UK ordinary residence requirement in recognition of the fact that they may not have been in the UK lawfully at the relevant time.

This includes people in the protection-based categories who may have been in the UK as an asylum seeker before being granted a form of temporary status (such as a refugee).

Asylum seekers are not in the UK lawfully, and therefore DfE may be inadvertently preventing such persons from benefiting from the events provisions in the regulations.

The categories are

• Calais leave
• Section 67
• Stateless Persons
• Humanitarian protection
• DVILR
• Refugees
• Bereaved Partner
• ARAP/ACRS
• Ukraine schemes

From 2023/24 the regulations will be changed for new applicants to remove the need to be lawfully resident in England for DVLR/Bereaved Partners/certain protection-based categories on the 1st day of the course where they qualify for support via an event.

Instead, learners in these categories will only need to be resident in England on the relevant date. This means learners who were resident in England, and subsequently gain a protected status after the 1st day of their course via an event can gain access to student support.

Learners can qualify by physical residence in a place and by providing their address details.

If the learner can provide these details, then we can consider them to constitute habitual, voluntary residence for settled purposes. As they currently do for learners in existing residency categories.

We may allow short term or temporary absences, or exceptional circumstances resulting in an individual being unable to provide an address where there are reasonable grounds and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Example

Tina is a non-UK national living in England on a permanent basis while seeking refugee status. Although she does not have a legal residency status, her learning provider allows her to start a course in academic year 2023/24.

As Tina does not meet the eligible residency requirements at the start of her course, she does not initially qualify for support from SLC.

In October 2023, after the start of her course, Tina is awarded refugee status. Although Tina was not lawfully resident in the UK/England on the first day of her course, Tina can now qualify for support. She qualifies as the award of her refugee status classifies as an “event”., She is considered to be settled in England as part of the regular order of her life and is living in England on a voluntary basis.

Cap residency address history checks at a maximum of 3 years for certain categories

Before 2023/24 people within the protection-based categories, DVLR and Bereaved Partners must show that they have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands since being granted that leave.

We will make residence history checks for the period since their last leave was granted. This can be difficult, particularly when someone has been granted indefinite leave to remain and has held that leave for a significant period before applying for student finance.

In addition, there are currently differences in treatment of applicants depending on the support applied for (UG/PG/FE) and whether they apply online or on paper.

From 2023/24, we will place a maximum cap of 3 year residence history assessment for the following categories:

• Calais leave
• Section 67
• Stateless persons
• Humanitarian protection
• Refugees
• Leave under the Ukraine schemes

DfE will not amend regulations, but will adapt their advice to support and improve the operational and customer journey for learners who are impacted.

If a learner has indicated they have not been outside the UK since they were awarded this status, then we will not make further checks.

Learners will be considered under the settled in the UK category, with the 3-year cap on residence history, if

• they are in any of the listed categories (except refugees)
• they have indefinite leave to remain
• they have 3 years ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands

Refugees must continue to be assessed as refugees even after they have acquired indefinite leave to remain. We can consider them under the ‘settled in the UK’ category when they have acquired British citizenship.

The following residency categories are usually granted indefinite leave to enter or remain (ILE/R) after three years, and so there will be a natural three-year cap.

• ARAP
• ACRS
• DVILR
• Bereaved partners

Once a learner has held ILE/ILR for three years (or a combination of ILE/R and any previous LLR where this was continuous and lawful residence), we will also consider hthem under the ‘settled in the UK’ category.

Reinstate the standard residency requirements that apply to learners applying via an ‘event’

We applied a change for academic year 2022/23, which disapplied certain residency requirements for any learner who qualified for support via an event.

This change was specific for academic year 2022/23, we will now reinstate the for academic year 2023/24, for learners who qualify for support via an event.

Where a new or continuing learner applies for Advanced Learner Loan funding in academic year 2023/24 as an event, they will again be subject to the standard residence requirements.

So we will revert to the previous residence requirements that we applied to learners qualifying via an event before we applied the temporary change for academic year 2022/23.

This includes the following requirements (where applicable to a specific residency category that can qualify for support via an event):

• to be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course/first day of the course (where applicable)

• to be undertaking or attending the course in England

• to not have come to the UK for the purposes of study

• to be ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands since the most recent leave was granted