Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the NHS Low Income Scheme refers to personal income or family income with regard to university students.

The NHS Low Income Scheme provides income-related help with health costs to students, as for all other adults.

The extent of any help is based on a comparison between a person’s weekly income and requirements at the date they apply to the NHS Low Income Scheme. For a student, income will include any maintenance grant or loan available, the assessment of which may be based on parental income, and the amount of parental contribution assessed by an education authority as payable. Any other income a student may have, such as non-assessed contributions from parents or earnings, will also be taken into account in calculating entitlement. Bursaries will not be included so long as they are clearly not intended for day to day living expenses.