1. Learning Support Fund (LSF)
A presentation for HEIs

2. About Student Services
NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Student Services is responsible for the awards and bursary payments to eligible continuing students who are studying on healthcare or social work courses. They administer the bursaries on behalf of the Department of Health. Following the Healthcare Education Funding Reforms, they now provide the new Learning Support Fund (LSF) to eligible new students starting their courses on or after 1 August They also administer the Education Support Grant which provides funding for social work practice placements.

3. This change applies only to new students
Introduction
From 1 August 2017, new Nursing, Midwifery and most Allied Health Professional students are no longer eligible to receive NHS Bursaries. Instead, they have access to the same student loan system as other students.
This applies to new students on pre-registration courses (those which lead to registration with one of the health professional regulators).
Students who already have a degree and are planning to undertake a Nursing, Midwifery or Allied Health Professional subject as a second degree now also have access to student loans through the student loans system.
This change applies only to new students

4. LSF Overview
The LSF will be administered by the NHSBSA and will consist of the following elements:
Child Dependants Allowance (CDA)- a non means tested allowance of £1,000 per student per year.
Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE)- expenses will be assessed, processed and paid in association with the NHS Bursary Scheme (London Universities included).
Exceptional Support Fund (ESF)- Non-repayable grant of up to £3,000 per year for students in genuine hardship.

5. Child Dependants Allowance (CDA)

6. Child Dependants Allowance provisions
Eligible new students will be able to apply for an allowance of £1,000 per student per academic year
They must have parental responsibility for a child who is under 15 years of on the first day of the first academic year, or under 17 years of age if the child is registered with special educational needs
This is to ensure that students are able to continue to study and attend practice placements.
The grant does not affect students’ access to child support and other means of childcare funding/ funding for dependants available through the higher education support system or other sources
You can find out details regarding payment times in our LSF Customer Charter.

7. Eligibility Criteria
In order to qualify for Child Dependants Allowance students must meet the following criteria:
Be studying on an eligible programme that leads to professional registration in either:
Nursing
Midwifery
An Allied Health Professional (the groups included in the reforms)
Be eligible for, and in receipt of, tuition fees and a maintenance loan from Student Loans Company (SLC). Alternative arrangements are in place for people who do not take out a loan for reasons such as religious beliefs or personal reasons.
Actively training, whether academic or practice learning
Be attending a university in England

8. CDA student journey

9. CDA HEI journey

10. Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE)

11. Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses overview
Eligible new students starting their studies in 2017/18 will be able to apply for reimbursement of travel and dual accommodation expenses as a result of attending practice placements
It will cover essential expenses incurred over and above a student’s normal daily travel costs to their HEI
The framework and process will be similar to the current Practice Placement Expenses for current NHS Bursary students
Further work is currently being carried out to determine the appropriate funding model for these expenses for the 2018/19 academic year and beyond

12. Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses provisions
Reimbursement of Travel and Dual Accommodation consists of:
Travel to and from the students placement site
Temporary accommodation if the student has to stay away from their normal term-time accommodation whilst attending a placement
The additional cost of being required to travel to visit other practice placement sites or the home of patients where free transport is not provided to the student
Expenses claimed will be assessed, processed and paid in association with the NHS Bursary Scheme Sixth Edition
Students are expected to travel by the cheapest form of transport available where it is reasonable and practical to do so
You can find out details regarding payment times in our LSF Customer Charter.

13. TDAE overview continued…
NHSBSA Student Services will produce detailed guidance on how to apply for TDAE.

14. Eligibility criteria
In order to qualify for Child Dependants Allowance students must meet the following criteria:
Be studying on an eligible programme that leads to professional registration in either:
Nursing
Midwifery
An Allied Health Professional (the groups included in the reforms)
Be eligible for, and in receipt of, tuition fees and a maintenance loan from Student Loans Company (SLC). Alternative arrangements are in place for people who do not take out a loan for reasons such as religious beliefs or personal reasons.
Actively training, whether academic or practice learning
Be attending a university in England
This also applies to eligible students attending HEIs in London

15. TDAE student journey

16. TDAE HEI journey

17. Exceptional Support Fund (ESF)

18. Exceptional Support Fund - Overview
Eligible students who find themselves in genuine unforeseen financial hardship, having exhausted all other available sources of funding, will be able to apply for additional funding. This will be an income assessed non-repayable grant(s) of up to £3,000 per eligible student per academic year
The NHSBSA will be responsible for administering the Exceptional Support Fund
The NHSBSA will produce full detailed guidance on how to apply for the Exceptional Support Fund
You can find out details regarding payment times in our LSF Customer Charter.

19. Eligibility Criteria
In order to qualify for Child Dependants Allowance students must meet the following criteria:
Be studying on an eligible programme that leads to professional registration in either:
Nursing
Midwifery
An Allied Health Professional (the groups included in the reforms)
Be eligible for, and in receipt of, tuition fees and a maintenance loan from Student Loans Company (SLC). Alternative arrangements are in place for people who do not take out a loan for reasons such as religious beliefs or personal reasons.
Actively training, whether academic or practice learning
Be attending a university in England

20. What ESF doesn’t cover
The Exceptional Support Fund is not for the purpose of:
Emergency payment
Helping meet the costs of tuition fees where the student has not taken out a tuition fee loan
Subsidising mismanagement of individual finances
Funding non essential lifestyle expenditure

21. How is ESF calculated?
ESF is based on a calculation which looks at a student’s financial situation.
Using a set calculation processors at NHSBSA Student Services will look at the evidence provided by the student to see whether there is a shortfall between total income and essential expenditure.
When looking at income, it will be assumed that most students are able to supplement their income through part-time work, holiday work, savings, bank loans and/or family contributions. An exception to this is students who have dependents or caring responsibilities.
Processors will look at both composite living costs (set amounts for essential expenditure such as food, bills and clothes) and variable expenditure (costs that will vary for each student such as rent, travel and childcare).

22. Examples of composite living costs
Food
Utilities
TV licence
Clothes
Home contents insurance
Entertainment
Clubs and societies
Mobile phone

23. Examples of variable expenditure
Rent/mortgage
Childcare
Travel
Buildings Insurance
Medication

24. ESF student journey

25. ESF HEI journey

26. LSF Application System (LSFAS)

27. LSF Application System
Following ‘Go Live’ on 1 November 2017, the LSFAS was available online for all eligible students
Students can apply for LSF via our website at:

28. Using the LSF Application System
The LSF Application System (LSFAS) will allow the student to do the following:
Apply for Child Dependants Allowance
Apply for Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses
Apply for Exceptional Support Fund
As well as:
Update their personal details (name, address)
Update their bank details
Notify us of a withdrawal from studies
Print off their student coversheet, this is needed whenever applications and/or documents are sent to us
You can find more information about how to apply in our guidance video

29. Policies Published
You can find the latest policies on our website:

30. Transitional arrangements
Postgraduate students, Dental Therapy and Dental Hygiene students, capped part-time students

31. Part-time students 2017/18
Transitional Arrangements will apply from 1 August 2017 to 31 July 2018
Hybrid support offer where students can claim tuition fees and DSA funding from the Student Loans Company (SLC) and maintenance support from NHSBSA Student Services
Maintenance support will be aligned to the NHS Bursary Scheme sixth edition
Students will need to evidence that they have applied for a loan for tuition fees from SLC
The changes apply to England only, so the bursary places will only be available to students who are ordinarily resident in England

32. Part-time programmes – ‘Capped’ places
Capped places on part-time programmes which start between 1 August 2017 and 31 July 2018 will be limited to those commissioned by Health Education England in 2016/17
Only students who take up one of the capped places will be eligible to apply for the maintenance bursary
The changes apply to England only, so the bursary places will only be available to students who are ordinarily resident in England
The places allocated specifically exclude any places that are funded on a secondment to training basis or other assisted means including self-funding
For the 2018/19 academic year, capped part-time students will be moving to a student loan funding arrangement and be eligible to apply for all elements of LSF

33. Eligible part-time programmes
HEI
2017/18 Programme/s
University of Brighton
Occupational Therapy
University of Cumbria
University of Salford
Physiotherapy
University of Huddersfield
Podiatry
Birmingham City University
Speech & Language Therapy
Oxford Brookes University
Adult Nursing
Operating Department Practice
London South Bank University

34. Arrangements for Postgraduate (PG), Dental Hygiene (DH) and Dental Therapy (DT) students in 2017/18
For 2017/18, Health Education England (HEE) will commission the programmes and the NHS Bursary will be available through the current arrangements in place.
HEE notified HEIs of places through the standard commissioning arrangements.
Applies to all new PG, DT and DH students starting between 1 August 2017 and 31 July 2018, so….

35. Future funding
This is a transitional arrangement only for new Postgraduate (PG) and Dental Hygiene/Dental Therapy (DH/DT) students commencing studies during the period 1 August 2017 to 31 July 2018.
The government will, in due course, set out arrangements for dental hygiene, dental therapy and postgraduate courses leading to registration that starts in 2018/19.
The NHSBSA will administer NHS Bursaries for the duration of their PG, DT or DH course, providing there are no changes to attendance.

36. Useful information
NHSBSA Student Services provides a range of materials for students and HEIs on their website. These include:
Guidance booklets
‘How to’ guides for completing TDAE and ESF forms
Infographics for the student and HEI journey when applying for each element of LSF
Eligibility criteria information
Policies
Posters
And much more!

37. Report your concerns to the NHS Fraud Corruption Reporting Line
Reporting fraud
Report your concerns to the NHS Fraud Corruption Reporting Line

38. Contact us
Got a question about LSF? You can contact Student Services in the following ways:
@NHSBSA_LSF
/LearningSupportFund