The High Court dismissed Robert Edward Barry’s appeal over the refusal of a student grant for a two-year part-time Diploma of Legal Studies course at the Honourable Society of King’s Inns.
Mr Justice Meenan gave judgment on 30 August 2019. The appeal was brought under section 21(6) of the Student Support Act 2011, which allows an appeal to the High Court on a specified point of law, with leave from the Student Grants Appeals Board or, if the Board refuses leave, from the High Court.
The judge found that Mr Barry had not obtained leave from the Board. Being told in correspondence that he could appeal did not amount to leave. The appeal was therefore not properly before the court and had to be dismissed on that basis. The judge nevertheless considered the issues raised.
Mr Barry had applied for a grant for the part-time course in April 2017. The application was refused because the course was not an approved course for grant purposes. An appeals officer upheld that decision, followed by the Student Grants Appeals Board in July 2017. The Board said the only King’s Inns course approved for grant purposes was the one-year postgraduate barrister-at-law degree.
The judge said King’s Inns was an approved institution only in respect of that degree, and that the Diploma in Legal Studies was not an approved course under the relevant legislation and regulations. He also noted that section 8(3) of the 2011 Act, which would allow certain courses not requiring full-time attendance to be prescribed as approved courses, had not been commenced. He concluded that Mr Barry had not identified a point of law that would allow the court to interfere with the decisions refusing the grant.
Mr Barry argued that the grant rules discriminated against him because his long-term disability restricted him to part-time study. He also relied on constitutional equality rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and alleged breaches of the Equal Status Act. The judge held that these matters fell outside the scope of the statutory appeal and did not decide them. He said a separate challenge to the 2011 Act or a claim under the Equal Status Act could be brought through other proceedings.