New system launched for healthcare students

The new system offers eligible students access to the NHS Learning Support Fund. This offers additional funding for students on healthcare courses at universities in England covering four main areas:

• Training Grant: a non-means tested grant of £5,000 each academic year
  • Specialist subject payment: an additional £1,000 is added to the student's account automatically if they're studying one of the following courses:
    • mental health nursing
    • learning disability nursing
    • radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)
    • prosthetics and orthotics
    • orthoptics and podiatry
  • Regional incentive: further details will be announced in due course.

Both the specialist subject payment and regional incentive are only available for new students starting their course from September 2020.

• Parental Support: formerly known as Child Dependants Allowance, students can apply for £2,000 each academic year if they have parental responsibility for a child under 15 years old, or under 17 years if they’re registered with special educational needs. This is a set amount and is per student, not per child.
• Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE): students can claim reimbursement of any additional travel and temporary accommodation costs incurred as part of attending their practice placements.
• Exceptional Support Fund (ESF): a grant of up to £3,000 each academic year for students who find themselves in unforeseen financial hardship.

Louisa Ruman, Head of Student Services at the NHS Business Services Authority said:

“I am delighted with the new online system we’ve developed and the response we’ve had so far. We had a short timeframe to get the system ready and even a global pandemic didn’t slow the team down. Despite a huge change in how we work, the team was full of energy and determination working together to achieve a great end product for healthcare students. As with all new systems there have been some minor issues to correct, but overall the feedback so far has been extremely positive. I’m delighted we’re able to bring NHS Learning Support Fund to the students and play our part in supporting the future NHS workforce.”

Kirste Worland, Head of Technology Applications at NHS Business Services Authority said:

“From the outset I was highly confident in the skills and capabilities of the team to deliver this new product and service in time for this year’s cohort of students; working with our colleagues closely within the Student Services area, we formed a really close multi-disciplinary team from the outset. What none of us anticipated was the impact of COVID-19. That said, the team understood the importance of this scheme, both nationally and to our health service, and were highly committed and determined to deliver this on time. I am delighted to say everyone involved in all elements of delivering the new scheme and the design, build and implementation of the product and service has worked exceptionally hard, in extraordinary times, delivering to a high quality and on time! The resilience, commitment and confidence of everyone has been incomparable; and I am incredibly proud of the whole team who have contributed to the successful delivery of this.”

Find out more information on NHS Learning Support Fund at www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/LSF or Facebook /LearningSupportFund and Twitter @NHSBSA_LSF.

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