NHS Learning Support Fund

Students who want to apply for one or more elements of the NHS LSF need to be:

• studying on an eligible programme at a university in England
• eligible for tuition fee and maintenance support from the Student Loans Company, either through:
  • Student Finance England (SFE)
  • Student Finance Wales (SFW)
  • Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) 
  • Student Finance Northern Ireland (SFNI) 
• actively in study, whether academic or practice learning

Alternative arrangements are in place for students who may not apply for a loan due to personal reasons.

Those students must still show that they meet the eligibility criteria as defined by SFE, SFW, SFNI or SAAS, as applicable.

Students who started or continued their course in January to August 2020 will be able to apply for the additional funding from the start of their next academic year.

For example, if you started your course in January 2020, you will be able to apply for the additional funding when you start your second year in January 2021.

In the meantime, you should continue to use your current LSF account and apply for CDA, TDAE and ESF as usual.

Part-time students will receive pro rata payments.

If you're in receipt of an NHS Bursary visit our NHS Bursary students section. NHS Bursary students are not eligible for NHS LSF support.

You can apply for NHS LSF from 1 July when the online application system is available.

You should not apply on any other systems as your application will be rejected.

Further updates will follow. We’ll also update our social media accounts:
Facebook: /LearningSupportFund
Twitter: @NHSBSA_LSF

Funding will be phased over the academic year and will be paid in 3 instalments.

Payment will be made once we have received confirmation of your attendance from your university. For students who start or continue in September 2020 you must be in attendance on 1 November to receive the first instalment. This process will be mirrored for students who start after September 2020.

For example, a student starts or continues study in:

• January or February 2021 needs to be in attendance on 1 March 2021
• March or April 2021 needs to be in attendance on 1 May 2021

Final year students who need to extend their course

If you’re in your final year and need to extend your course, you must not apply for NHS LSF using the new system as your application will be rejected.

We're working with the Department of Health and Social Care to finalise funding arrangements and we'll publish more information on this soon.

The first time you apply for any element of NHS LSF in each year of study, you'll need to upload a copy of your student finance letter to your online account.

Uploading a document your NHS LSF account

The selected file must be:

• a JPG, BMP, PNG, TIF or PDF
• an original copy ​​​​which displays the document in full
• clear and in focus
• in colour
• unaltered by computer software
• at least 50KB and no more than 5 MB

If the document does not meet this criteria your application will be rejected.

Your NHS LSF account

Once you’ve registered for an NHS LSF account, you’ll be able to:

• apply for funding elements of NHS LSF as long as you’re eligible
• update your personal details including your bank account
• check your scheduled payments

Once you’ve registered for an account, you'll keep it throughout your studies and won't need to create a new one.

If you’re in receipt of LSF and are in training prior to September 2020, you’ll continue to use your current online account until you start your next academic year.