NHS Bursary

NHS Bursary and Learning Support Fund advice for Health students

Medicine Students //

Am I eligible for the NHS Bursary?

You must have been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for at least three years before starting your course.

You must be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course. If you are a resident in a different part of the UK, or if you moved to England for the purpose of studying, you will not be eligible for the NHS Bursary but can apply to your own funding authority.

You must be a UK national or Irish citizen, or have settled status or another qualifying residency status. A full list is available on pages 7-9 of NHS's guidance.

Your Course

You must be:

Studying a 5 or 6-year undergraduate course
Studying a 3 or 4-year graduate-entry course
A returning NHS Bursary student and started your course before 1 August 2017

You must be in attendance on 1 December for that academic year – if you withdraw or suspend your studies before that date then you will not be entitled to the bursary for that year and would have to pay any fees owed to the university.

You can still get funding if you're studying the course as a second degree.

When will I get bursary funding?

In general, undergraduates will get their funding from their fifth year. However, some students choose to take an intercalation year or need to repeat, so your start year may be calculated a bit differently. Some information is below and you can find a helpful table on page 10 of the NHS guidance.

Intercalation Years

Intercalation years are counted as a year of study, so if you did an intercalation year before Year 5 of your degree, then you will start getting your funding in Year 4 (which is your fifth year since starting).

If you intercalate in Year 5 or later you will be eligible for bursary funding during that year.

Repeat Years

If you repeat a year before Year 5 you will not get funding until you start Year 5.

If you need to repeat a year that's been funded by the bursary, you can get an extra year of funding. The University will send an extension request to NHS Bursary to arrange the extra funding.

Postgraduates

Postgraduates will receive their funding from their second year.

*Note: a graduate-entry course that's been classed as undergraduate will still be considered a postgraduate course for the purpose of bursary funding.*

What can I get?

Undergraduates

In summary, you can get:

A grant of £1,000 per academic year
Tuition fees, paid directly to the university
A means-tested bursary based on your household income

There is a standard amount of £1000 given to all students, and, depending on you or your family's income, this may be topped up with a means-tested amount of up to £2,643 for non-London students living away from home, or £2,207 if you're at home.

Your parents’ income will be assessed, unless you are classed as independent. If you're independent, your income and any partner's will be assessed instead.

If your academic year is more than 30 weeks and 3 days (excluding holidays) you will be paid £84 per week (or £56 if you're living at home) for the extra weeks.

Postgraduates

You will get a contribution of £3,715 towards tuition fees.

Can I get extra funding based on my circumstances?

There is additional money available if you have any dependants, of up to £2,448 per year then a further £549 for each child after your first. There is also Parents' Learning Allowance of up to £1,204 per year and Childcare Allowance that can pay up to 85% of your childcare costs.

There is Disabled Student Allowance available - you can send them your recent assessment and Student Finance letter to ensure you continue to get the support you need.

There is a hardship grant that can award up to £3,000 for unforeseen hardship. You will need to apply to the University's Hardship Fund first and show proof of this, such as a letter from the University.

Will NHS Bursary pay for my placement expenses?

You can be reimbursed for any excess travel and accommodation costs for placements through Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE). Excess travel and accommodation costs would be anything more than you would normally incur on the daily travel to and from university, for example, if you normally drive 10 miles to get to university but are driving 30 miles to get to your placement, they would reimburse you for the extra 20 miles.

Travel reimbursement includes paying for public transport, 42p per mile for driving, 30p per mile for cycling, and 7.5p per mile if you’re a passenger. They will also pay for parking and toll roads.

Your costs must be reasonable. They would normally pay for the cheapest way of travelling but may agree to cover a more expensive travel method if it was reasonable for you to have used it, for example for safety reasons at night. The University would need to agree that the extra expense was reasonable.

You can be reimbursed some of the costs for temporary accommodation if this was the most reasonable arrangement for you. They will cover the costs of one return journey and will pay £82.50 per night for commercial accommodation and £37.50 for non-commercial (non-commercial can be friends or family, but not parents). If you're staying in non-commercial accommodation, ask the person you stayed with to write a letter confirming when you were living there and what you contributed. If you're sharing with other students, you will need to provide evidence of your own share of the costs.

What happens if I need time off?

If you need to extend your course or repeat a year you can get up to 12 months extra funding. The university would send an extension request with the dates required and the reason for needing more funding. Unfortunately, you cannot get any further funding if you need more than those extra 12 months to complete your course, regardless of your circumstances.

If you're pregnant, you can get maternity leave for 52 weeks.

Nursing, Midwifery, Allied Health and Radiography Students //

Am I eligible for the NHS Bursary Learning Support Fund?

You must be studying at a university in England and you must be eligible for Student Finance England tuition and maintenance loans. However, if you're studying on a second degree and you can’t access SFE loans, you may still be eligible for support.

International students are generally not eligible, but it can be possible if you have indefinite leave to remain and can establish residency.

If you’re already getting a salary from the NHS you won’t be eligible as you’re already being paid by them.

Your Course

You can apply for NHS LSF if you're on one of the following Keele pre-registration undergraduate or postgraduate courses:

Midwifery
Nursing (Adult, Child, Mental Health, Learning Disability, joint degree in Nursing and Social Work)
Occupational Therapy
Orthotics and Prosthetics
Paramedic Science
Physiotherapy
Radiography
Speech and Language Therapy

Foundation Years are not eligible.

You must be in attendance at a specified date, which will depend on your course start month:

September/October start - 1 November
Jan/Feb start - 1 March
March/April start - 1 May

What can I get?

Depending on your circumstances, the following funds may be available to you:

A £5,000 per year training grant.
An extra £1000 Specialist Subject Payment, for example Mental Health Nursing and Learning Disability Nursing.
Parental pay of £2000 per year if you have a child of 15 years of under, or a child of 17 or under with special educational needs. You will be paid from the month your child was born or adopted.
Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE) for placements (see below).
Maternity leave of up to 12 months, with access to all elements of the Learning Support Fund except TDAE. Partners can also have up to 4 weeks.

Full information is on the NHS bursary website. There is also a guide to the LSF and another that's more specific to the Exceptional Support Fund

Can I get extra funding if I'm struggling?

There is a hardship fund that can grant a maximum of £3000 for the year.

You must have exhausted all other sources before applying, such as the University's Hardship Fund.

However, NHS Bursary don’t force students to take out Student Finance loans as there may be a good reason you have chosen not to, for example religious reasons. If you don’t have a loan you need to show the normal documents you would provide to SFE, like your passport.

Will NHS Bursary LSF pay for my placement expenses?

You can be reimbursed some of the costs for temporary accommodation if this was the most reasonable arrangement for you. They will cover the costs of one return journey and will pay £82.50 per night for commercial accommodation and £37.50 for non-commercial (non-commercial can be friends or family, but not parents). If you're staying in non-commercial accommodationm ask the person you stayed with to write a letter confirming when you were living there and what you contributed. If you're sharing with other students, you will need to provide evidence of your own share of the costs.

What happens if I need time off or I withdraw?

You can get an additional 12 months of funding if you have to repeat or extend your course due to ill health. There is no additional funding if you just fail. The additional 12 months doesn’t need to be used together, you can have several repeat periods as long as it doesn’t add up to longer than 12 months total.

If you withdraw from your course then start from Year 1 again, at the same university or a different university, you still only get a total of 3 years plus 1 potential additional year of funding. For example, if you left 6 months into Year 1 then you will only have 6 months left of funding for your first year if you start the course again, unless you withdrew due to ECs, you may be able to get the full year.