university fees increased to £9000 in 2015.
university fees increased to £9000 in 2015.
when did university fees increase to £9000?
2015
universities in the uk do not have a coherent system of funding or governance, and both remain heavily debated. before 1998, universities were funded mainly by central government, although they have been increasingly reliant on charging students and seeking to raise private capital. first, universities have the power to generate income through endowment trust funds, accumulated over generations of donations and investment. second, under the further and higher education act 1992 there are funding councils paid for through general taxation for england, wales, scotland and northern ireland. for england and wales, the secretary of state appoints 12 to 15 members and the chair, of which 6 to 9 should be academics and the remainder with "industrial, commercial or financial" backgrounds. funds are administered at the councils' discretion but must consult with "bodies representing the interests of higher education institutions" such as the university and college union and universities uk. after the higher education and research act 2017, the english council from 2018 will be renamed the "office for students". further, there are seven research councils (ahrc, esrc, mrc, etc.) which distribute funds after peer review of applications by academics conducting research. third, and most controversially, funding may come from charging students. from ww2 tuition fees in the uk were effectively abolished and local authorities paid maintenance grants. the education act 1962 formally required this position for all uk residents, and this continued through the expansion of university places recommended by the robbins report of 1963. however, over the 1980s and 1990s, grants were diminished, requiring students to become ever more reliant on their parents' wealth. further, appointed in 1996, the dearing report argued for the introduction of tuition fees because it said graduates had "improved employment prospects and pay." instead of funding university through progressive tax, the teaching and higher education act 1998 mandated £1000 fees for home students. in england, this rose to £3000 in the higher education act 2004, and £9000 after the browne review in 2010 led by the former ceo of oil corporation bp plc. in 2017, the limit on fees was £9,250 for students in england, £9000 in wales, and £3,805 in northern ireland. the same rates apply for european union students, who cannot be discriminated against under eu law (e.g. "commission v austria" (2005) c-147/03). by contrast, under the scotland act 1998, the scottish government resolved not to introduce tuition fees for students under 25. under eu law, while the uk parliament does not abolish tuition fees, that english students are charged tuition fees in scottish universities while eu students may not be, because non-discrimination for free movement of citizens does not apply to internal domestic affairs. for english universities, the higher education act 2004 enables the secretary of state to set fee limits, while universities are meant to ensure "fair access" by drafting a "plan" for "equality of opportunity". there is no limit on international students fees, which have steadily risen to typically around double. a system of student loans is available for uk students through the government owned student loans company. means-tested grants were also available, but abolished for students who began university after august 2016. while eu students qualify for the same fees as uk students, they only qualify for loans (or previously grants) if they have been resident for three years in the uk. as the uk is in a minority of countries to still charge tuition fees, increasing demands have been made to abolish fees on the ground that they burden people without wealthy families in debt, deter disadvantaged students from education, and escalate income inequality.
united kingdom enterprise law
a person could also contract out of additional pension with a stakeholder pension or a personal pension plan which they may nominate. this vehicle was then known as an appropriate personal pension, or app. if they did this, instead of their paying lower national insurance contributions, once a year hm revenue & customs paid directly into their app a rebate, sometimes known as a minimum contribution. this rebate is intended to provide benefits broadly the same as the additional pension given up - that is, full s2p. its value is therefore determined by reference to the individual's age and level of earnings that year but not directly by how much they may pay in national insurance in that particular year. "this second form of contracting out occurs one (tax) year at a time" - each year the individual has the option to elect to contract back into the full s2p additional pension. where an employee earns less than the let (£9000 for instance) their rebate will be based on their actual band earnings (£9000 - £4368) so that they would still receive some s2p through their state pension later - equivalent to the difference remaining (here, £12500 - £9000).
state second pension