Eligibility

Original post

by Traineeteacher1

Hi,
According to the SFE Practitioners guidance, 'Paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 1 provides that a person may be treated as being or having been ordinarily resident in the relevant residence area, as applicable, if they would have been so resident but for the fact that: they, their spouse or civil partner, their parent, or in the case of a dependent relative, their child or child's spouse or civil partner, is or was temporarily employed outside the area in question during the three year period' prior to starting their course.
I have been turned down for student finance because we lived abroad for 4 months for my husband's work.
Can you explain why, given the above guidance?

Hi there,

Was this a temporary break and if so, had you sent evidence to advise of this? Thanks, Jason

Reply 2

Hi there,

Yes it was. I've sent evidence of my husband's fixed term contract, his temporary visa, our flights to and from.

I've also provided evidence that I am British and was living in the UK and paying tax prior to our departure and since we returned.

Reply 3

They seemed to want proof that we owned a home in the UK, which we don't. However, I cannot see in the SFE guidelines for assessors where 'owning a house' is criteria for being eligible for a loan.

Reply 4

Original post

by Traineeteacher1

They seemed to want proof that we owned a home in the UK, which we don't. However, I cannot see in the SFE guidelines for assessors where 'owning a house' is criteria for being eligible for a loan.

Hi there,

We need to see you have kept links with the UK so this is why we would have asked about house, UK bank accounts with regularly activity etc. If you have further evidence to show this you can forward it in and we will review this for you.

Thanks,
Claire

Reply 5

Original post

by Claire SFE

Hi there,
We need to see you have kept links with the UK so this is why we would have asked about house, UK bank accounts with regularly activity etc. If you have further evidence to show this you can forward it in and we will review this for you.
Thanks,
Claire

Hi,

In the practitioners guidelines it says that 'a person' should be considered as ordinarily resident in the UK if 'they or their spouse' are employed temporarily abroad. That clause does not appear to be caveated by the necessity to prove links with the UK. It certainly isn't in the 24-25 guidelines.

Could you provide clarity on this? It seems that I'm being asked to provide evidence by the assessors which isn't specified in the guidelines and which the guidelines appear to override.

Thanks.

Does this

Reply 6

Original post

by Traineeteacher1

Hi,
In the practitioners guidelines it says that 'a person' should be considered as ordinarily resident in the UK if 'they or their spouse' are employed temporarily abroad. That clause does not appear to be caveated by the necessity to prove links with the UK. It certainly isn't in the 24-25 guidelines.
Could you provide clarity on this? It seems that I'm being asked to provide evidence by the assessors which isn't specified in the guidelines and which the guidelines appear to override.
Thanks.
Does this

We can only advise you will be considered resident when evidence is provided for the temporary break, DfE set the rules that Student Finance England need to follow.

Thanks,
Claire

Reply 7

I've provided: temporary visas, my husband's fixed term contract and a letter from the Western Australian Health Minister stating that my husband was seconded to the state to fulfil a short term need for doctors in the state due to COVID-19. Unsure how it can be made much clearer. I appealed it yesterday and the appeals department have replied saying: 'I can confirm that your previous email was received by this department however, after reviewing the contents of your appeal it was considered appropriate that the information and/or documentation be referred to the processing department for further review. As such an appeal has not been adopted. However, once they have reached a decision, you can contact appeals again if necessary.' What does this mean?

Reply 8

Calum SLC

Hi Traineeteacher1,

It may not be considered an appeal if we have acted in line with our assessing guidance. If you have been asked for further evidence of links to the UK you may need to send this.

Thanks,
Calum

Reply 9

I'm sorry, I don't understand - what does 'It may not be considered an appeal if we have acted in line with our assessing guidance' mean? Can you explain further?

I appealed the decision, and it's been sent to the processing department rather than the appeals department. What is the processing department?

To me the above suggests that the appeals team think it should have been approved and have sent it to processing accordingly?

Reply 10

Original post

by Traineeteacher1

I'm sorry, I don't understand - what does 'It may not be considered an appeal if we have acted in line with our assessing guidance' mean? Can you explain further?
I appealed the decision, and it's been sent to the processing department rather than the appeals department. What is the processing department?
To me the above suggests that the appeals team think it should have been approved and have sent it to processing accordingly?

Appeals haven't accepted it an appeal, and its been sent back to the processing team. If the processing team asked for further evidence, then you will need to provide this so they can review it again for you.

Thanks,
Claire

Reply 11

Why haven't they accepted it as an appeal? The decision had been made.

Reply 12