NHS Learning Support Fund
Students starting and continuing their course from 1 September 2020 onwards can apply for NHS LSF allowances if they’re on one of the following pre-registration undergraduate or postgraduate courses:
- dental therapy or dental hygiene (level 5 and 6 courses)
- dietetics
- midwifery
- nursing (adult, child, mental health, learning disability, joint nursing and social work)
- occupational therapy
- operating department practitioner (level 5 and 6 courses)
- orthoptics
- orthotics and prosthetics
- paramedics (DipHE and FD courses are not eligible for NHS LSF)
- physiotherapy
- podiatry/chiropody
- radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)
- speech and language therapy
If you're eligible, you can get:
- a Training Grant of £5,000 per academic year
- Parental Support of £2,000, if you have at least one dependent child under 15 years, or under 17 years if registered with special educational needs
- reimbursement of excess costs incurred on practice placement for travel and temporary accommodation costs (Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses)
- students experiencing financial hardship (Exceptional Support Fund)
Please note, if you withdraw from your studies or transfer to a course ineligible for the LSF you must inform the NHSBSA immediately.
Eligibility information, and other general information can be found here.
Parental Support (formerly Child Dependants Allowance)
The Parental Support allowance is intended to provide additional support for eligible full-time students who have parental responsibilities for a dependent child or children under the age of 15 (or under the age of 17 if the child has special education needs). This will be in the form of a £2,000 non-repayable grant, given in instalments throughout the academic year.
More information can be found here.
Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE)
The Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses will reimburse excess costs incurred when undertaking practical training on placements.
Please note that Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses are sent off to the LSF by the Health Placements team (practice.placements@herts.ac.uk), please contact them with any queries.
More information can be found here.
Exceptional Support Fund (ESF)
The Exceptional Support Fund aims to support eligible healthcare students who find themselves in genuine and unforeseen financial hardship during their studies. There is a maximum award of £3000 available, usually in the form of a grant, and awards are based on an assessment.
Please note: Students must have applied to the University Financial Assistance Fund (UFAF) before they can apply to the ESF.
Students must apply to the ESF online and will be required to bring an authorisation form to the Student Funding and Financial Support team (Ask Herts Hutton) to be signed before they will be able to submit their application and supporting documents to the NHSBSA for assessment.
More information can be found here
Training Grant
The Training Grant is a non-means tested grant of £5,000 each academic year for all eligible students.
You can apply for the Training Grant through your online NHS LSF account.
You'll need to upload evidence of your student finance letter when you apply.
Specialist Subject Payment (SSP)
On top of the Training Grant, you can get an extra £1000 per academic year if you're studying:
- mental health nursing
- learning disability nursing
- radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)
- prosthetics and orthotics
- orthoptics and podiatry
You must have started year one of your course on any date from 1 September 2020 onwards to qualify for it.
If you are eligible for SSP, it will be added to your NHS LSF account when you apply for the Training Grant.
Combined courses and SSP
If your course includes one of the above subjects and leads to dual registration, for example, adult and mental health nursing, you can get SSP
More information on both the Training Grant and SSP can be found here
Further Information
If your final year was in the 2019/20 academic year, do not apply for NHS LSF using the new system as your application will be rejected. Arrangements are now in place for students that need to extend because of COVID-19.