GUIDANCE NOTES FOR COMPLETION OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE APPLICATION FORM FOR FEE ASSISTANCE FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2018/2019 Introduction The Governors of The Stephen Perse Foundation wish to ensure that students who qualify for a place at the Foundation are not prevented from taking up their place for financial reasons. Assistance awarded is based on parental income and will be on a sliding scale, such that parents in receipt of assessable income in excess of 70,000 will usually receive no assistance. Assistance from other sources In order to help the greatest number of parents who need financial assistance, all those who apply for a Bursary from the Foundation are asked first to enquire if they are eligible for assistance from any other source. Please state whether you have applied to trusts or foundations for a grant, and if so to which and with what result. Application procedure All parents who indicated on the Foundation s application form that they wished to be considered for financial assistance must submit a Financial Assistance Application Form. This form should be submitted as soon as possible and by 15th December 2017 at the latest. If the form is not submitted by that date, it will be assumed that fee assistance is not required. Please note that parents must indicate that they wish to be considered for financial assistance on the registration form. Late applications, once a place has been offered, will only be considered in exceptional circumstances. Financial Assistance for late entrants will be considered but is dependable on funds being available at that time. As part of the application process, a number of parents may be selected for home visits or for an interview with the Bursar. The Bursary Committee will sit in the early part of 2018 and you will be advised of the outcome of your application by 31st March 2018 unless your son/daughter is also applying for a scholarship in which case you will be advised of the outcome of both applications at the same time. Fee assistance for 2019/20 onwards Finance Assistance awards continue for as long as a pupil remains at the Foundation. However, the level of assistance given is reviewed on an annual basis. Accordingly in each subsequent year, parents will be asked to submit an annual bursary application, detailing their income for the appropriate tax year. If assessable income exceeds the upper limit, no assistance will be awarded for the relevant academic year. Assistance will however be available in subsequent years, should the parents' assessable income fall below this level in the future. Upper and lower earnings limits are reviewed annually.
Completion of Financial Assistance Application Form Please read the following before completion of the form. If further guidance is required, parents may contact the Finance Bursar via financialassistance@stephenperse.com or on 01223 454721. Parents are reminded that if false information is knowingly or recklessly provided in connection with any aspect of an application for fee assistance, the Foundation may disqualify any or all of the parents' children from the receipt of bursaries and may seek to recover from the parents assistance previously awarded. 1. Declaration of income Income declarations must be made and signed by the parent(s) in accordance with note 3. If the income of only one parent is declared, the reason for this should be given (e.g. divorced, legally separated, deceased) in section 2 and relevant documentation to substantiate this should be submitted. Income declarations should not include the income of the "absent" parent in the case of parents who are living apart and are divorced or legally separated at the time the form is submitted. Cases involving parents who live apart but who are not divorced or legally separated at 16th December 2016 or parents who subsequently separate will be considered on an individual basis. However, only in very exceptional circumstances can fee assistance be awarded where parents separate after accepting a full fee place. 2. Basis of assessment of fee assistance Under normal circumstances, fee assistance for the 2018/19 academic year will be based on income in the tax year 2017/18. There is however provision for assessment to be made on the basis of estimated income in the 2018/19 tax year (referred to as a "current year" basis of assessment) in exceptional circumstances where significant and unforeseen changes in family circumstances such as bereavement or redundancy have recently occurred such that income in the 2018/19 tax year will be considerably less than in tax year 2017/18. Relevant details should be submitted along with the form and will be considered on an individual basis. Once a current year assessment has been made, all subsequent assessments of relevant income will be made on the same basis. 3. Definition of parents for the purpose of income declaration The person(s) whose income details should be declared are as follows: a. The natural or adoptive father and mother of the student where they live together as husband and wife whether or not they are married to each other, and the student resides with them both in the same household; or b. The natural or adoptive parent of the student with whom the student resides and the partner (if any) of that parent where the partner resides with that parent and the student in the same household; or c. Where neither of the above applies, cases will be considered on an individual basis. All relevant details should be provided in a covering letter. For simplicity, any male or female parent, step-parent, guardian or partner as defined above will be referred to as "parent". Court orders and separation agreements for payment of school fees Where a divorced or separated parent is required by a court order or separation agreement to pay all or part of the school fees, then only that part of the fees which is not covered by the court order or agreement will be used as the basis for calculating fee remission. This is irrespective of whether or not the order is being complied with.
Any student whose fees are required to be paid in full pursuant to a court order or separation agreement is not eligible for fee assistance. Where a court order or separation agreement exists, parents applying for assistance with tuition fees which are not covered by that order or agreement should enclose a copy of the appropriate document. 4. Income declaration Actual income arising in the tax year 2016/17 and estimated income for the tax year 2017/18 must be declared on the application form. The declarations must include all income arising in the relevant tax year for those who meet the definition of `parent' given in note 3 at 15th December 2017. It is acknowledged that self-employed parents may not have details of actual income for the tax year 2016/17 available before the deadline for submission of the form. In such cases estimates may be given provided that they are accompanied by actual income details for tax year 2015/16 and actual income details for the tax year 2016/17 are submitted by 31 January 2018 i.e. the deadline for submission of accounts to HM Revenue and Customs for that year. In the case of self-employed persons, assessable income for any tax year is taken as that assessed by HM Revenue and Customs for the same tax year. This will generally be income arising in the accounting year ended in the tax year concerned. Gross income (i.e. before deduction of tax) from ALL sources must be declared under the relevant heading on section 4 of the form. Deductions must not be made in respect of allowances for tax purposes, for example personal allowances or donations to charities. a. Salaries and earnings from self-employment/partnership This should include: Gross salaries and wages, including earnings from part-time employment, bonuses, commission, statutory sick pay and statutory maternity/paternity pay; Amounts received as profit related pay or by virtue of a salary surrender scheme; Gross taxable income from self-employment or a partnership as declared on the selfassessment return submitted to HM Revenue and Customs for the tax year in question. Any dividend income from employer companies should be included with investment income. b. Taxable benefits in kind Taxable benefits in kind, for example company cars, private medical insurance, free or subsidised accommodation should be declared at the amount agreed for tax purposes i.e. the amount declared on form P11d for the tax year concerned. c. Social security benefits and tax credits All social security benefits and tax credits must be declared. Only those that are taxable will be taken into account in the calculation of assessable income. Nontaxable benefits and tax credits will not be taken into account. Details of non-taxable DSS benefits may be obtained from the HMRC website www.hmrc.gov.uk. d. Property income
Income from the letting or sub-letting of property should be declared. The amount declared should be the net taxable profit agreed with HM Revenue and Customs i.e. it is permissible to deduct the interest element of any mortgage repayments but not the capital element. e. Bank and building society interest Gross interest received during the tax year should be declared, i.e. any tax deducted must be included. Income from tax free saving schemes such as ISA's and PEP's should be declared. f. Other investment income All other investment income e.g. dividends, annuities should be declared. If tax was deducted at source, parents should include the amount of tax deducted or tax credit notified. In the case of income received from an insurance policy, only taxable amounts are taken into account. However non-taxable receipts should be declared. g. Separation and maintenance allowances Parents entitled to receive maintenance payments or separation allowances under a court order or separation agreement or arrangements made by the Child Support Agency should enter the amount required to be paid in the relevant tax year. This is irrespective of the amount actually received. They should also enter the amount of any tax recovered on the payment. Any amounts received under an informal arrangement should be declared. Where parents make such payments under a court order or separation agreement or through the Child Support Agency the gross amount paid during the year should be entered as a deduction. In cases where parents both receive and pay sums for maintenance, two separate entries should be made. h. Other income Amounts declared as "any other income" should include capital gains, redundancy payments, "golden handshakes", "windfalls" from for example building society conversions and take-overs etc. However the following will not be included in the calculation of relevant income: Redundancy payments of up to 30,000. If payments exceed that amount, the first 30,000 will not be included in the assessment; Student awards received by a parent from a local education authority; Allowances paid by an adoption agency under relevant adoption legislation; Residence allowances paid under the Children Act 1989; Capital gains of up to the relevant annual exemption; Any amounts paid in respect of foster children; The amount of any custodianship allowance paid under the Children Act 1976 or any similar allowance paid to parents by a local authority under the Children Act 1989. 5. Dependent children The following allowances against income will be given in respect of dependent children: An allowance of 2,200 for each dependent child other than the pupil concerned; For younger siblings at The Stephen Perse Foundation in receipt of fee assistance, the fees paid in respect of the elder sibling (s) will be deducted from assessable income. A dependent child is a child aged 18 or under or, if over 18, is still dependent on their parent(s) as a result of being in full-time further education.
A deduction of 5,000 will be made if only one parent chooses to work unless there are children under 5 years of age in the family. Parents should declare all gross income in excess of 50 per child (including interest on savings accounts), received by children who are wholly or mainly dependent on them, excluding only sums earned from part-time employment (including vacation jobs) and sums received as scholarships or student awards. 6. Details of main residence Parents are required to give the approximate valuation and outstanding mortgage of their main residence, if owned. Parents whose main residence is rented are required to specify rent payable on the property or to confirm that they are in receipt of housing benefit. 7. Investment details Parents are required to give details of any investments held. Details of approximate valuation, outstanding mortgages and council tax bands are required for all properties owned in addition to their main residence. For other investments, for example bank and building society accounts and shareholdings, an approximate valuation is required. Information regarding property council tax bands is available from council tax bills. Any income from second properties must be declared in section 6. In exceptional circumstances, information regarding investments may be used by the Foundation, at its discretion, in determining the eligibility of a student for fee assistance. 8. Other circumstances If there are other, non-financial circumstances that the Bursary Committee should be aware of in assessing the level of financial assistance given, please include details in a covering letter or contact the Finance Bursar on gem@stephenperse.com. October 2017