Successful challenge in the Supreme Court to the ban on students loans for migrants who are lawfully present in the UK

Just for Kids Law (JFKL) has successfully intervened in a challenge to the 2012 Education Regulations which removed entitlement to students loans for migrants who did not have indefinite leave to remain.

The regulations meant that many young migrants who had other types of leave to remain in the UK, such as discretionary or limited leave to remain, could not attend university as they had no way of supporting themselves or raising their university fees.

In a ruling handed down on 29th of July 2015, the Supreme Court found that a ban on accessing student loans for anyone who doesn’t have either indefinite leave to remain or citizenship, regardless of their length of residence or strength of their ties to the country, was disproportionate and could not be justified.

The SLF funded Just for Kids Law to intervene in the case. Together with the Let Us Learn campaign, JFKL provided the court with examples of dozens of young people who are blocked from university education because of restrictions on student loans. JFKL hope that the hundreds of young migrants who have been blocked from taking up university places since 2012 will benefit from the ruling. More information about the ruling can be found here. Watch the Just for Kids Law and Let Us Learn campaign video here