External
Rent assistance is payable, where a student is eligible, from the first payday after 1 July 1998. Secretaries must ensure that all students aged 16 and over who are currently receiving the living away from home rate of education allowance are individually advised of their possible entitlement to rent assistance and invited to submit an application. Provided that an amount of rent is payable by the student, there is no requirement that the student must actually make that payment before rent assistance can start (eg at the beginning of a new lease).