Apply for a postgraduate bursary

Placement Travel Allowance (PTA)

If you aren’t allocated a bursary place, but meet the eligibility criteria, you’ll receive a PTA of £862.50 towards your travel expenses at the beginning of your academic year.

If you’re allocated a bursary, your PTA will be included as part of your bursary so you won’t receive any further help for travel.

 Adult Dependants Allowance (ADA)

You can apply for ADA if you have an adult who is wholly or mainly financially dependent on you. This could include your spouse, partner or civil partner.

Your entitlement is assessed using your dependant’s income.

Parent’s Learning Allowance

This is payable if you have a dependent child or children aged under 19. We’ll automatically assess your entitlement based on your dependant’s income if they have one.

This allowance is income assessed. The maximum amount available during 2016/17 is £1,573.

Childcare allowance

You can apply for this if you have dependent children aged under 15 (or aged under 17 for children with special educational needs) who are attending registered childcare.

• You can’t claim if you are getting the childcare element of working tax credit.
• Your entitlement is assessed using your dependants’ income if they have any.
• Your allowance is reconciled with your childcare provider at the end of each term.
• We can contribute a maximum of 85% of your costs per week.

The maximum amounts payable during 2017/18 is:

• Up to £155.24 per week for one child in childcare
• Up to £266.15 per week for two or more children in childcare

Childcare allowance application form 2016/17 (597KB)

Childcare allowance application form 2017/18 (726KB)

Reconciling your childcare costs

If you've been awarded Childcare Allowance, we reconcile your childcare costs quarterly. Please complete and send us the correct form along with your student coversheet.

Social work bursary childcare reconciliation form - December 2016 to April 2017 (63KB)

Social work bursary childcare reconciliation form - May 2017 to August 2017

Disabled Student Allowance (DSA)

You can apply for DSA if you have a disability and need additional help or equipment to complete your course.

The amount of DSA you could get is based on the recommendations in your Needs Assessment Report. The maximum possible full time rates for 2017/18 are:

• Non-Medical Helpers Allowance - £20,725 per year
• Specialist Equipment Allowance - £5,212 for the duration of the course
• General Allowance - £1,741 per year
• Travel Allowance – actual costs incurred

Disabled student allowance (DSA) application form (556KB)

To calculate the maintenance grant you are entitled to, we look at:

• your net unearned taxable income during the current academic year
• your partner’s residual taxable income from the 2015/16 tax year (if you have a partner).

When we calculate your maintenance grant, we may take other dependants in your family into consideration. 

Calculating your entitlement is complex, so you should not base your entitlement on your own calculations.

Application deadlines:

• For courses that start in September 2017 you can now apply for your bursary. The deadline for applications is 1 November 2017.
• For courses that start in January 2018 you can apply now. The deadline for applications is 14 February 2018.
• Applications received after the deadline won’t be considered.

If you don’t apply for your main bursary before the closing date, you can’t apply for allowances.

You can make an application for Childcare Allowance and Disabled Allowance at any time from 1 March until the end of your academic year if you submitted your main bursary by the deadline.

Evidence of income

Postgraduate students may also need to complete the following forms if they can’t provide evidence of a spouse, partner or civil partner’s income or benefits.

Confirmation of earnings form 2017-18 (852KB)

Confirmation of benefits form 2017-18 (628KB)

If you’re receiving or applying for a retainer:

Bursary retainer declaration form (114KB)

Once we have all your application and supporting evidence, we’ll write to you to let you know your bursary entitlement and if you’re entitled to Placement Travel Allowance.

We aim to:

• deal with your application within 20 working days of the day we receive your form and supporting evidence
• process and pay Childcare Allowance claims within 20 working days of receipt
• process initial Disabled Student Allowance applications within 10 working days of receipt
• respond to email enquiries within 5 working days of receipt
• respond to written correspondence within 5 working days of receipt