Student Loans Company and "ordinarily resident".

Hi all,

This is my first post here but I am a long time lurker. I would be eternally grateful if somebody knowledgeable could answer a question I have in regard to the definition of "ordinarily resident" in the UK - specifically the definition applied by the Student Loans Company.

I'm a British Citizen, however, I have spend a number of long periods of travel outside of the UK for a number of years up until now.

I've recently been given an unconditional offer to study as a mature student at a university back home in the UK but I'm concerned that I may not be able to satisfy the "ordinarily resident" condition stipulated.

For tax purposes, I've read that somebody is ordinarily resident if they've spent 91 days of a tax year in the country. I could potentially satisfy a condition of being ordinarily resident in the UK for a period of over half of the days in a three year period leading up to the commencement of my studies in September if I needed to. As mentioned I'm unclear on definitions.

Most of my travels have been in Africa where I have family and as such I've held a succession of temporary residence permits.

I've added up the time I've spent in the UK since 2014 and I exceed the number of days relevant for tax purposes (91 days) in in both periods between 2014-15 and 2015-16. Unfortunately I would be unable to satisfy the dates for the 2016-17 tax year though.

The crux of my post is what is "ordinarily resident"? If it meant that I had been in the UK for say, half of the 1096 days prior to undertaking my studies then if returned to the UK within the next week or so I could potentially meet it.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.