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16-19 Bursary

The Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) continues to provide the Bursary Fund to help 16- to 19-year-olds continue in full-time education, where they might otherwise struggle for financial reasons.   

Bursary awards are used to provide learners with specific financial support to enable them to remain in education. They are intended to help learners with the essential costs of participating in their study program, which could include financial assistance for:

  • Essential books 
  • Essential equipment 
  • Home to school transport 
  • Field trips
  • Other course–related costs etc. 

 

Bursary awards cannot be made to: 

  • Support general household income 
  • Support extra-curriculum activities where these are not essential to the learners study program
  • Fund learning support services such as counselling, mentoring or extra tuition. 

 

The ESFA requires us to assess the actual financial needs of individual learners when making bursary awards. Therefore, learners will need to specify clearly within their application how much funding they consider they require and how it will be spent. We are no longer able to provide certain groups of learners, such as those in receipt of free school meals, with a standard, fixed-rate bursary award, as each award must be assessed on its own merits. 

Learners must meet the age and residency criteria, as set out below, to be eligible for help from the bursary fund

Financial Information for Discretionary Bursary Award Assessments 

We recognise that those learners in receipt of Free School Meals or whose families are in receipt of tax credits (or Universal Credit) and have a low household income, are more likely to have a greater need for a discretionary bursary award than other learners, although all learners who have a genuine need for financial assistance to remain in education are encouraged to apply. 

Financial Information for Discretionary Bursary Award Assessments 

Learners, who meet the criteria and have a financial need, can apply (as part of the main application) for a bursary for vulnerable groups. The defined groups (listed below), reflect that these learners are unlikely to be receiving financial assistance from parents or carers, so they need a greater level of support to enable them to remain in education. Awards of up to £1,200 per annum are available, but the level of award provided will be based upon an assessment of the financial support each learner needs.

The defined vulnerable groups are learners who are:

  • In care 
  • Care leavers 
  • Personally, in receipt of Income Support or Universal Credit, because they are financially supporting themselves. 
  • Receiving Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in their own right. 

 

Payments will only be made if students maintain above 90% attendance for registration and lessons and successfully meet their target grades.   

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