16 to 19 Financial Support

If you are under the age of 19 at the start of your course and have a house­hold income of less than £35,000 you may be eli­gi­ble for sup­port with the following:

• Free Col­lege Meals
• Trans­port
• Uni­form
• Equip­ment
• Manda­to­ry Trips

If you are 19 or over at the start of your course and have a house­hold income of less than £35,000 you may be eli­gi­ble for sup­port with the following:

• Trans­port
• Uni­form
• Equip­ment
• Manda­to­ry Trips
• Child­care *see below for more information

If you are under the age of 19 at the start of your course and have a house­hold income of less than £16,190 you may be enti­tled to free col­lege meals. One of the fol­low­ing forms of evi­dence will need to be provided:

• Income Sup­port

• Income-based Job Seek­ers Allowance

• Income-relat­ed Employ­ment and Sup­port Allowance

• Sup­port under part VI of the Immi­gra­tion and Asy­lum Act 1999

• The guar­an­tee ele­ment of State Pen­sion Credit

• Child Tax Cred­its (But not work­ing Tax Cred­its) with a gross annu­al income of no more than £16,190 as assessed by HMRC

• Uni­ver­sal Cred­it hav­ing pro­vid­ed 3 con­sec­u­tive state­ments with net earn­ings not exceed­ing the equiv­a­lent of £7,400 pa (£616.67 per month)
• Work­ing tax run-on-paid for 4 weeks after you stop qual­i­fy­ing for work­ing tax credit

• In receipt of free meals at school or col­lege (evi­dence required)

Stu­dents aged 19 – 24 are only eli­gi­ble to receive a free meal if they meet the eli­gi­bil­i­ty cri­te­ria above and have an Edu­ca­tion, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

Yes, stu­dents on appren­tice­ship pro­grammes, or any waged train­ing, because those stu­dents are clas­si­fied as employed.

There is no dead­line date to apply, but the soon­er you apply the bet­ter. Appli­ca­tions can be sub­mit­ted at any time dur­ing the aca­d­e­m­ic year. Stu­dents may also make more than one appli­ca­tion if their sit­u­a­tion changes.

Yes. A new appli­ca­tion needs to be sub­mit­ted to the Learn­er Sup­port Fund for each aca­d­e­m­ic year that you study at the col­lege. This is because sit­u­a­tions and ben­e­fit amounts are like­ly to change year on year.

No. Receiv­ing assis­tance from the Learn­er Sup­port Fund will not affect the amount or enti­tle­ment to any Depart­ment of Work and Pen­sions (DWP) ben­e­fits you receive. The bur­sary fund is in place to sup­port the costs of edu­ca­tion and remove finan­cial bar­ri­ers so that all stu­dents have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to study the course of their choosing.