Assisted students

You will not be eligible for a NHS Bursary if you are an assisted (i.e. seconded) student. Normally these are students whose employer (usually an NHS Trust) is meeting the cost of their course tuition fees and also continuing to pay their wages or salary whilst they attend their course. Assisted students are not eligible for any of the allowances available via the NHS Bursary Scheme, including help with practice placement costs, Disabled Students and Childcare Allowances.

Residence Conditions

To be eligible for NHS Bursary support ALL students regardless of nationality must be able to satisfy the following requirements on the first day of the first academic year of the course (the ‘prescribed date’) * On that day, all applicants must:

• be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years preceding the prescribed date, apart from occasional or temporary absences;

AND

• be ordinarily resident in England, Scotland , Wales or Northen Ireland on the prescribed date (other than medical and dental students who must be ordinarily resident in England.);

AND

• have ‘settled status’ in the UK - within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971. This means that there must be no restrictions on your length of stay in the UK.

*Academic years are the period of 12 months starting as follows:

• 1 September for all courses starting between 1 September and 31 December
• 1 January for all courses starting between 1 January and 31 March
• 1 April for all courses starting between 1 April and 30 June
• 1 July for all courses starting between 1 July and 31 August

If you were away from this country because you or your family were temporarily employed abroad, you may be treated as if your residence in the UK had not been interrupted.

If you are living here mainly to receive full-time education and you would normally have lived elsewhere, you will not usually be treated as having been resident in the UK.

Students who do not meet the residency rules

If you do not meet the required residency conditions , you may still be eligible for an NHS Bursary. This may apply if either you, your spouse or civil partner or your parents are:

• Non-UK EU nationals who have been ordinarily resident in the UK throughout the three years preceding the prescribed date. (If, during any part of this three year this period, the main purpose for your residence was to receive full time education, you must have been ordinarily resident in the EEA/Switzerland immediately prior to the three year period of ordinary residence in the UK).
• From another EEA country or Switzerland, if you can show that you, your spouse, civil partner, or either of your parents have 'migrant worker' status and you have been living in the EEA or Switzerland for three years before the first day of the first academic year of your course, and are ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year in which your course begins.
• You have been recognised by the British Government as a refugee and have been ordinarily resident in the UK since you were granted this status.
• Those who have been refused refugee status but instead have been granted Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave, and have resided in the UK for the three years prior to the prescribed date.

Members of the regular Armed Forces

If you were away from this country during all or part of the three-year period because you or your spouse or one of your parents were serving abroad as an active member of the armed forces (the British Army, Royal Navy or Royal Air Force), you will be treated as having been temporarily employed overseas during that period. This will not normally prevent you from being eligible for an NHS Bursary.

Leave to Enter The UK

If you are an Asylum Seeker in the UK you will not be eligible for a NHS bursary whilst you application is under consideration by the Home Office.

Non-UK EU Students who do not have EEA Migrant Worker status or a right of permanent residence in the UK may be awarded an “EU Fees Only” award, meaning that they will receive tuition fee support through the NHS Bursary Scheme but they will not receive the maintenance grant element. EU students are not normally eligible for student loans, NHS Hardship Grants or University Access to Learning funds or Disabled Students Allowances.

Students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

You will not normally be eligible for an NHS Bursary if you are living in one of the British Islands (i.e. the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) and you have come to the UK for the purpose of undertaking a course of full time education. However, you may still be able to take up a NHS commissioned place, but you would not receive support via the NHS Bursary in the form of a maintenance grant or tuition fee payment. Students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man who are offered a NHS-commissioned place at a University in England will be expected to approach their own educational authority for financial support.

Medical and Dental Students

If you are a medical or dental student you must be ordinarily domiciled in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course. If this is not the case, and you are ordinarily resident (but for your course) in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, you should approach the appropriate agency in your country for student support rather than NHS Business Authority (NHS BSA) Student Bursaries. Contact details for the various agencies can be found here.