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Student Support: applying in England

28 April 2011


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What is Student Support

Student Support is the name given to financial support provided by the Government to some students in the UK.

Student Support is not public funds as defined in paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules, which you can find at www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/immigrationlaw/immigrationrules/introduction.

If you meet all the requirements of one of the categories described in this Information Sheet, it is likely that you are eligible for some form of Student Support from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. See the Student Finance England website at www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk/goodbye.html.

Student Support is only available if you are studying on a designated course, namely:

  • an undergraduate degree
  • a Higher National Diploma (HND)
  • a Higher National Certificate (HNC)
  • a Diploma of Higher Education
  • a teacher training course.

All of the above are higher education courses. If you are studying on a further education course, check with your institution whether any funding is available - for example, Learner Support Funds or the Adult Learning Grant.

You may not be eligible if you have previously received Student Support (or a mandatory award) to study a higher education course. The same applies if you have already studied a course at the same or lower level, including qualifications you have obtained in other countries. For more information about this 'equivalent or lower qualification' policy, which applies in England only, see the website of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills at www.dius.gov.uk/publications/hefunding.html.

The amount of Student Support you will receive, if you are eligible, depends on your and your family's income.

Student Support is composed of:

  • a loan for tuition fees
  • a loan for living costs
  • certain supplementary grants for specific categories, for example disabled students
  • a non-repayable maintenance grant of up to £2,906 per year for new full-time students from households with a low income (figures are for the 2010-11 academic year)

If you are eligible for a full maintenance grant, you might also be eligible for an additional bursary from your university. If you are entitled to Student Support, the maximum amount you have to pay for your fees (in 2010-11) is £3,290 per year (£1820, or £2895 for a medicine course, if you are studying at an institution in Scotland). This applies where the course is full-time, or if it is a teacher training course (whether part-time or full-time). For part-time study on other designated courses you may be eligible for a grant for tuition fees of up to £1230, and a course grant of up to £265, in 2010-11.

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Who is eligible for Student Support?

If you meet all the requirements of one or more of the following categories, you may be eligible for Student Support. This is only a brief summary of persons who are eligible for Student Support. If you are unsure about whether you are entitled to Student Support, or if you need further information, check your situation with an adviser at your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line.

Category 1: Settled status and living in the UK and Islands

In order to be eligible for Student Support under this category, you must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. you must be settled in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of the course;


    2. AND
  2. on the first day of the first academic year of the course you must be ordinarily resident in England;


    3. AND
  3. you must also have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the full three-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course (for example, if your course begins in October 2011, you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands from 1 September 2008 to 31 August 2011);


    4. AND
  4. the main purpose for your residence in the UK and Islands must not have been to receive full-time education during any part of the three-year period.

It is not necessary to have had settled status in the UK for three years. For example, you may have been ordinarily resident for three years but have been given indefinite leave to remain shortly before the first day of the first academic year of the course.

If you are granted settled status after the first day of the first academic year of your course, or if you can show three years' ordinary residence in the UK and Islands only after that date, you will not become eligible for Student Support. This is because you must meet all requirements of this category on the first day of the first academic year of your course. If you think you are going to be able to meet all the requirements after the first day of the first academic year of a course you have not yet started, you might want to consider deferring your place until a later date.

Students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

If you are in receipt of an award from your Island authority, you are treated differently as there is an agreement between the Island authorities and UK higher education institutions. If you are self-financing, seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line.

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Category 2: European Union nationals and family living in the European Economic Area and Switzerland

If you satisfy the conditions under this category, you are eligible only for a loan to pay your tuition fees. If you satisfy the conditions under Category 3 or Category 4 or Category 5, you will be eligible for full Student Support which also includes loans for living costs and certain supplementary grants, so you should check the conditions for these other categories first.

To be eligible for a tuition fee loan under this category (Category 2):

  1. you must be a national of one of the European Union (EU) member states on the first day of the first academic year of the course, and you must be either -
    • a UK national
    • or a non-UK national who is in the UK as a self-sufficient person or as a student

    OR you must be the relevant family member of such a person;


    2. AND
  2. you must have been ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area (EEA) and/or Switzerland for three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course;


    3. AND
  3. the main purpose for your residence in the EEA and/or Switzerland must not have been to receive full-time education during any part of the three year period.

If you become an EU national because your country joins the EU, you are treated as if you were an EU national on the first day of the first academic year of the course, even if you started the course before your country joined the EU. The same applies if you are the family member of someone whose country of nationality joins the EU. For the purposes of the residence conditions, any country that joins the EU is considered always to have been part of the EEA.

Note that you do not have to be the family member of an EU national on the first day of the first academic year of the course, although the EU national in your family must be an EU national on that date (unless the EU national's country joins the EU). If you become, or a relevant family member becomes, an EU national after the course has started, seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line about whether you or your family member will become eligible for Student Support. See also How to apply for Student Support.

If you do not qualify for Student Support only because the main purpose for your residence in the EEA or Switzerland was full-time education, and you have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course, you might be eligible for Student Support if you meet the conditions in Category 3, Category 4 or Category 5 instead.

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Category 3: Non-UK European Union nationals living in the UK and Islands

To be eligible for Student Support under this category, you must be:

  1. a European Union (EU) national, but not a UK national, on the first day of the first academic year of the course;


    2. AND
  2. ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course;


    3. AND
  3. ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the three-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course;


    4. AND
  4. if during any part of the three year period, the main purpose for your residence was to receive full-time education, you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK or elsewhere in the EEA and/or Switzerland immediately prior to the 3-year period of ordinary residence in the UK and Islands. It does not matter if you were in the EEA and/or Switzerland mainly in order to receive full-time education during this earlier period.

If you become an EU national because your country joins the EU, you are treated as if you were an EU national on the first day of the first academic year of the course, even if you started the course before your country joined the EU.

A student who can be eligible under this category is, for example, a Latvian national who has spent four years in full-time education in the UK before starting a degree course. Although such a student's main reason for being in the UK might have been to receive full-time education, this student was ordinarily resident in the EEA (the student was in the UK) immediately before the three-year period of ordinary residence in the UK preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course.

If you become an EU national after the start of your course because your country joins the EU, you should seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line about whether you will become eligible for Student Support. See also How to apply for Student Support.

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Category 4: European Union nationals and family with the right of permanent residence in the UK

You are eligible for Student Support under this category if:

  1. you have the right of permanent residence in the UK;


    2. AND
  2. you are ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course;


    3. AND
  3. you were ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course;


    4. AND
  4. if your three-year residence in the UK and Islands was at any time mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education, you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK or elsewhere in the EEA and/or Switzerland immediately prior to the three-year period of ordinary residence in the UK and Islands. It does not matter if you were in the EEA and/or Switzerland mainly in order to receive full-time education during this earlier period.

If you acquire the right of permanent residence after the start of your course, you should seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line about whether you will become eligible for Student Support. See also How to apply for Student Support.

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Category 5: Non-UK European Economic Area and Swiss workers and family

You are eligible for Student Support if you meet the following criteria:



  1. AND
  2. you must be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course unless you are an EEA or Swiss frontier worker or relevant family member of a frontier worker;


    3. AND
  3. you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK or elsewhere in the EEA and/or Switzerland for three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course.

If you are an eligible direct descendant (see the definition of a relevant family member) of an EEA worker who is no longer working or living in the UK, you can still be eligible for Student Support if you came to the UK to accompany your EEA worker parent.

If you or your relevant family member becomes an EEA or Swiss worker part-way through your course, seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line about whether you will become eligible for Student Support. See also How to apply for Student Support.

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Category 6: Settled status and exercised a right of residence in the European Economic Area and Switzerland

To qualify for Student Support under this category, you must:

  1. be settled in the UK;


    2. AND
  2. be ordinarily resident in the UK on the day on which the first term of the first academic year of your course actually begins;


    3. AND
  3. have been ordinarily resident in England and settled in the UK immediately before leaving the UK and exercising a right of residence (this means that, before leaving the UK, you must be either a UK national, or the family member of a UK national and you have settled status, or a person with the right of permanent residence, and you or your family member has been a worker or self-employed person, or a student or self-sufficient person somewhere in the European Economic Area or Switzerland, other than the UK);


    4. AND
  4. you have been ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for the three-year period before the first day of the first academic year of your course;


    5. AND
  5. if, during that three-year period, you were ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area or Switzerland mainly in order to receive full-time education, you must have been ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area and/or Switzerland immediately before that three-year period (this does include time spent there in full-time education).

This is the category that entitles you to full Student Support if you are a British citizen or the family member of a British citizen (as long as you have settled status yourself before you leave the UK with your British family member) if you have been living outside the UK but elsewhere in the EEA and/or Switzerland.

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Category 7: Child of a Swiss national living in the European Economic Area and Switzerland

You are eligible for Student Support if you meet all the following criteria:

  1. you must be the child of a Swiss national, and note that there is no requirement that your Swiss parent is, or has been, economically active in the UK;


    2. AND
  2. you must be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course;


    3. AND
  3. you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK or elsewhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) and/or Switzerland for the three-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course;


    4. AND
  4. if the main purpose for your residence in the EEA and/or Switzerland was wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education, you must have been ordinarily resident in the EEA and/or Switzerland immediately before that three-year period. It does not matter if your main reason for being there before that three-year period was in order to receive full-time education.

A child can be an adopted child or any child for whom the Swiss national parent has parental responsibility.

If you become the child of a Swiss national after the start of your course, for example, if you have a non-Swiss parent who marries or enters into a civil partnership with a Swiss national or if your parent is granted Swiss nationality, you should seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line about whether you will become eligible for Student Support. See also How to apply for Student Support.

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Category 8: Child of Turkish worker living in the EEA, Switzerland, Turkey

You are eligible for Student Support if you meet all the following criteria:

  1. you must be the child of a Turkish national who is ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands and who is, or has been, lawfully employed in the UK;


    2. AND
  2. you must be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course;


    3. AND
  3. you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK or elsewhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) and/or Switzerland and/or Turkey for the three-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course.

A child can be an adopted child or any child for whom the Turkish worker parent has parental responsibility.

If you become the child of a Turkish worker after the start of your course, for example, if you have a parent who marries or enters into a civil partnership with a Turkish worker, you should seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line about whether you will become eligible for Student Support. See also How to apply for Student Support.

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Category 9: Refugees and family

To be entitled to Student Support under this category, you must either have been recognised as a refugee by the UK Government and have remained ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands since then, or you must be the spouse or civil partner or child of such a person. You must also be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course. If your permission to be in the UK has run out, you are still eligible for Student Support if you can show that you applied to extend or change your immigration status before your permission to be here expired, and you are still waiting for a decision on that application, or that you are in the process of appealing against a Home Office decision to refuse you further immigration permission.

Since, and including, the academic year 2007-08, the requirements for the family member of a refugee have been slightly more complicated. You must have been the spouse or civil partner of the refugee on the date on which your spouse or civil partner made an application for asylum. If you are applying for Student Support as the child of a refugee, you must be able to show that on the date on which your parent, or your parent's spouse or civil partner, applied for asylum you were:

  • under 18 years of age;


    • AND
  • the refugee was your parent, or your parent was the refugee's spouse or civil partner on the date of the asylum application.

This means that if you start a course in the academic year 2007-08 or later, you will have to be a member of the refugee's family at the time of the refugee's claim for asylum in order to be entitled to Student Support.

A child can be an adopted child or any child for whom the refugee parent (or the refugee's spouse or civil partner) has parental responsibility.

See Definitions of terms for when someone when someone with Refugee Status becomes a British Citizen.

If you are granted refugee status, or if your spouse or civil partner or parent is granted refugee status, after the start of your course, you should seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line about whether you will become eligible for Student Support. See also How to apply for Student Support.

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Category 10: People refused refugee status, but who are granted Humanitarian Protection, and family

You are entitled to Student Support under this category if you have applied for asylum in the UK and the Home Office has decided that you do not qualify for refugee status but that you should be allowed to stay in the UK. You must have, resultantly, been granted Humanitarian Protection (HP). You are also entitled to Student Support if you are the spouse, civil partner or child of such a person.

You must be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course, and you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for three years before the first day of the first academic year of your course. If your permission to be in the UK has run out, you are still eligible for Student Support if you can show that you applied to extend or change your immigration status before your permission to be here expired, and you are still waiting for a decision on that application, or that you are in the process of appealing against a Home Office decision to refuse you further immigration permission.

If you applying for Student Support on the basis of being a family member of such a person, then there are certain requirements.

If you are the spouse or civil partner of such a person, then you must have been the spouse or civil partner of the person who applied for asylum on the date when his or her application for asylum was made.

If you are the child of a person in this category, you must be able to show that on the date on which your parent, or your parent's spouse or civil partner, applied for asylum you were:

  • under 18 years of age;

    • AND
  • the person granted permission to stay was your parent, or your parent was that person's spouse or civil partner.

A child can be an adopted child or any child for whom the parent who applied for asylum and was allowed to remain in the UK (or that person's spouse or civil partner) has parental responsibility.

If you are granted permission to stay in the UK, or if your spouse or civil partner or parent is granted permission to stay in the UK, after the start of the course, seek advice from your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line about whether you will become eligible for Student Support. See also How to apply for Student Support.

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How to apply for Student Support

If you think you meet all of the requirements of one of the categories described in this Information Sheet, and you have not yet started your studies, or never applied for government financial support before, you should apply to Student Finance England. If you have already started your studies, and you have moved to a different area in order to study, you should contact your Local Education Authority where you were living before you moved for your studies. They will instruct you on what to do next.

If you meet the requirements of Category 2 in this Information Sheet, and of no other categories, you are entitled only to a tuition fee loan, and you should apply direct to the EU Customer Services Team of the Student Loans Company.

If you meet the requirements of Category 5 in this Information Sheet, and of no other categories, you are entitled to Student Support, and you should apply direct to the EEA Migrant Worker Applications department of the EU Customer Services Team of the Student Loans Company.

Student Finance England, your Local Education Authority or the EU Customer Services Team of the Student Loans Company will send you an application form and you must apply within nine months (six months for part-time courses) of the start of the academic year.

If you do not meet all of the requirements of a category on the first day of the first academic year of your course, you can still apply for a tuition fee loan if one of the following events occurs within the first three months of an academic year of your course, and you meet all the other requirements of the relevant category:

  • your course becomes a designated course
  • you or your spouse or civil partner or parent is recognised as a refugee or is refused refugee status but is granted humanitarian protection
  • the country of which you are, or a relevant family member is, a national joins the European Union
  • you become a relevant family member of an EU national, for example, you marry or enter into a civil partnership with an EU national
  • you acquire the right of permanent residence
  • you become a European Economic Area or Swiss migrant worker or the relevant family member of such a worker
  • you become the child of a Swiss national
  • you become the child of a Turkish worker.

You can apply for a loan or grant to help with your living costs if one of these events occurs at any point in the academic year. Your deadline for applying is nine months from the date on which the event occurs.

What can you do if you think you have been incorrectly refused Student Support?

You should ask for the reasons for the refusal in writing. You should then write to the person who informed you of the refusal and explain why you think the decision is wrong. If you are still not satisfied, you can appeal against the decision but first you should speak to an adviser at your institution, your Students' Union or our Students' Advice Line.

Additional sources of support

If you are in financial hardship and you are eligible for Student Support, you might be able to apply for additional help through your institution's Access to Learning Fund, if you are studying in England. Similar funds are available from institutions in Northern Ireland (Support Fund), Scotland (Discretionary Funds) and Wales (Financial Contingency Fund). The Student Support package also includes extra grants for students with particular needs, for example, disabled students and students who have dependants. Seek advice from your institution or your Students' Union. Check with your Local Education Authority in case additional funding is available for your particular course.

Courses funded by the National Health Service (NHS)

If you are considering applying for an NHS-funded course (for example, Nursing or Midwifery), please note that admission to the programme may depend very much on whether you will be granted an NHS Bursary. The requirements are similar to those described in the categories in this Information Sheet, but please check your eligibility carefully before you apply for an Access to Nursing course or an NHS-funded degree course.

There are only very limited opportunities for self-funded applicants to study Nursing and Midwifery in UK Higher Education. Apart from these, it is very unlikely that any institution will be able to consider applicants who are not eligible for an NHS bursary. If you do wish to follow such a course as a full fee-paying student, check with the institution in advance if they accept fee-paying students onto the course.

You can find information about NHS bursaries on the website of the NHS Business Services Authority and nursing and midwifery admissions information is available from the UCAS website.

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Definitions of terms

European Economic Area (EEA)

The European Economic Area is a larger area than the European Union (EU). It is made up of all the countries in the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

For categories where the residence area is the EEA and Switzerland, the residence area is made up of all 30 countries in the EEA including the whole of the island of Cyprus (that is, including northern Cyprus), and Switzerland.

European Union (EU)

You are an EU national if you are a national or citizen of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Republic of Cyprus (you must have evidence, eg a passport or other travel document, that shows you are recognised as a Cypriot citizen by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden or the UK.

Family members

European Union (EU) nationals under Category 2

Family members of an EU national who can be entitled to a loan to pay tuition fees under this category are:

  • spouse or civil partner
  • direct descendants of the EU national, and of the EU national's spouse or civil partner, for example children or grandchildren; a direct descendant must also be under 21 years old or (if 21 or over) dependent on the EU national or dependent on the EU national's spouse or civil partner
  • if the EU national is self-sufficient and not a UK national, the direct ascendants of the EU national, or of the EU national's spouse or civil partner, for example parents or grandparents; a direct ascendant must also be dependent on the EU national or dependent on the EU national's spouse or civil partner.

European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss workers under Category 5

Family members of an EEA, or Swiss, worker who can be entitled to Student Support under this category are:

  • spouse or civil partner
  • if the worker is an EEA national (not a Swiss national), direct descendants of the EEA worker and of the EEA worker's spouse or civil partner, for example children or grandchildren; a direct descendant must also be under 21 years old or (if 21 or over) dependent on the EEA worker or dependent on the EEA worker's spouse or civil partner
  • if the worker is a Swiss national (not an EEA national), child, which is not defined in terms of either age or dependency and a child can be an adopted child or any child for whom the Swiss worker or the civil partner or spouse of the worker has parental responsibility
  • if the worker is an EEA national (not a Swiss national), direct ascendants of the EEA worker or of the spouse or civil partner or the EEA worker, for example parents and grandparents, who must be dependent on the EEA worker or dependent on the spouse or civil partner of the EEA worker.

Settled people who exercise a right of residence, under Category 6

Settled family members of a UK national who exercises a right of residence in the EEA and/or Switzerland who can be entitled to Student Support are:

  • spouse or civil partner
  • direct descendants of the UK national, and of the UK national's spouse or civil partner, for example children or grandchildren; a direct descendant must also be under 21 years old or (if 21 or over) dependent on the UK national or dependent on the UK national's spouse or civil partner. If the UK national exercised a right of residence as a student, only dependent children count as family members
  • direct ascendants of the UK national or of the UK national's spouse or civil partner, for example parents and grandparents, who must be dependent on the UK national or dependent on the UK national's spouse or civil partner. This does not apply to UK nationals who have exercised a right of residence as a student.

First day of the first academic year of the course

If your academic year starts between:

  • 1 August and 31 December inclusive, then the first day of the first academic year is 1 September
  • 1 January and before 31 March inclusive, then the first day of the first academic year is 1 January
  • 1 April and before 30 June inclusive, then the first day of the first academic year is 1 April
  • 1 July and 31 July inclusive, then the first day of the first academic year is 1 July.

Full-time education

Where a category includes a condition that the main purpose of your residence (in the UK and Islands, or in the European Economic Area and Switzerland) must not have been to receive full-time education, a useful question to ask is: if you had not been in full-time education, where would you have been ordinarily resident? . If the answer is outside the relevant residence area, this would indicate that the main purpose for your residence was full-time education. If the answer is that you would have been resident in the relevant residence area even if you had not been in full-time education, this would indicate that full-time education was not the main purpose for your residence in the relevant area.

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Ordinary residence

You are ordinarily resident in the relevant residence area (which is either the UK and Islands or the European Economic Area and Switzerland, depending on the category and its qualifying conditions) if you have habitually, normally and lawfully resided in that area from choice. Temporary absences from the residence area should be ignored and therefore would not stop you being ordinarily resident.

If you can demonstrate that you have not been ordinarily resident in the relevant residence area only because you, or your relevant family member, were temporarily working outside the relevant residence area, you will be treated as though you have been ordinarily resident there.

Refugee Status

Anyone granted Refugee Status by the UK government should, in UKCISA’s understanding, still be considered to come within the definition of ‘refugee’ for the purposes of the relevant regulations even if they have now become a British citizen. If a decision maker considers otherwise, please ask them to check the case, heard in the Supreme Court, of ‘ZN (Afghanistan) & Others v Entry Clearance Officer (Karachi) [2010] UKSC 21’, particularly paragraphs 36 and 37.

This decision concerned an immigration decision rather than eligibility for ‘home’ fees or Student Support. The regulations for assessing fee status and Student Support eligibility define “refugee” as meaning:

“a person who is recognised by Her Majesty’s government as a refugee within the meaning of the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees […]”.

In the Supreme Court decision at paragraph 37 Lord Clarke said: “The fact that British citizenship has been granted […] does not change the fact that […] a person [was or has been] granted asylum”.

Therefore, it would seem unreasonable for a decision maker to conclude that the granting of British citizenship to someone with Refugee Status would mean that the UK government no longer considered that person to have a well-founded fear of persecution in their former home country.

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Right of permanent residence

Under European Community law, an EU national who remains lawfully resident in the UK for a continuous period of five years acquires the right of permanent residence. The same applies to a family member who is in the UK with that EU national. You might have a document from the Home Office that confirms your right of permanent residence, but this is not essential if you can prove in some other way that you have the right of permanent residence.

Settled

Settled means being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom (ie England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) without any immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK. The Student Support regulations refer to immigration law for the definition of settled. To be settled you must have the Right of Abode or Indefinite Leave to Enter or Remain in the UK or be a national of the Republic of Ireland, or have the right of permanent residence in the UK under European Community law. If your passport describes you as a British citizen, then you have the Right of Abode. Certain categories exempt from time limits on their stay in the UK, however, do not come within the definition of settled. For example, diplomats and members of their households do not have specified time limits on their permission to stay in the UK but they are not settled under the relevant immigration law.

If you are settled through having acquired the right of permanent residence under European Community law, you are not entitled to Student Support under Category 1 but you might qualify under Category 2, Category 3, Category 4 or Category 5.

UK and Islands

The area of residence described as UK and Islands consists of:

  • England
  • Wales
  • Scotland
  • Northern Ireland
  • Channel Islands
  • Isle of Man

Worker

Worker includes a European Economic Area (EEA) or Swiss national who is:

  • employed
  • self-employed
  • a frontier worker who is employed or self-employed. A frontier worker is an EEA or Swiss national who works in the UK but who resides in Switzerland or the territory of an EEA State other than the United Kingdom and returns to their residence in Switzerland or an EEA state, at least once a week.

What kind of work?

  • The work must be in the UK
  • The work can be full-time or part-time
  • If you give up work to start a course, you should still be treated as a migrant worker if your course of study is related to your job or area of work
  • If you have become involuntarily unemployed (for example, if your post was made redundant, or if your contract ended and was not renewed), you do not have to show that your course of study is related to your previous job. If you lost your job through misconduct, you would not be considered involuntarily unemployed
  • It can be work that you are doing while you are on the course, unless it is ancillary to the course. Ancillary means the work is part of the course or work you were offered only because you have been accepted on a particular course.
  • In order to be considered effective and genuine, the work must be lawful.
    1. If you are a national of an A8 member state (ie a national of Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia or Slovenia), and are in employment, then you must be working with the right permission. You must register your employment under the Worker Registration Scheme, unless you are self-employed, in order for Student Finance England to accept you as a 'migrant worker'. Note From 1 May 2011, you can work without restriction and can choose whether or not you apply for a registration certificate using form EEA1.
    2. If you are a national of an A2 member state (ie a national of Bulgaria or Romania), and are in employment, then you must have completed 12 months of uninterrupted employment under the Worker Authorisation Scheme, unless you are self-employed.
    3. For further information on the Worker Registration Scheme and the Worker Authorisation Scheme, please see UKCISA's information for EEA and Swiss students on working in the UK, which can be found at: www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/eea_work.php.
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Useful contacts

Direct Gov

The Directgov website has UK Government information about financial help that is available to students in further and higher education, including application forms and contact details for Local Education Authorities, the EU Customer Services Team and the Student Loans Company, at: www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/index.htm

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is the government department that produces the Student Support regulations for England and guidance about those regulations for students and Local Education Authorities. This guidance can be accessed on its Student Finance England website at: http://practitioners.studentfinanceengland.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=133,4210298&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL. This information can be useful if you are refused Student Support and you do not agree with that decision.

You can contact the EU Customer Services Team of the Student Loans Company at:
EU Customer Services Team, Mowden Hall, Staindrop Road, Darlington DL3 9BG
Tel: (+44) (0) 141 243 3570
E-mail: EU_Team@slc.co.uk

UK Council for International Student Affairs

We can offer written and telephone advice for students. Our contact details are on our website at: www.ukcisa.org.uk. If you have read this Information Sheet and other resources mentioned in it, but you would still like to talk to us about your eligibility for Student Support, you can call our Advice Line on (+44) (0) 20 7107 9922 Mon to Fri 1300 to 1600 hours (UK time) or you can write to us at:
UK Council for International Student Affairs, 9-17 St Albans Place, London N1 0NX, UK.

Telephone numbers

If you are calling from outside the UK, do not dial the (0) in the telephone numbers above. For example, if you want to call UKCISA from outside the UK, dial +44 20 7107 9922. If you are in the UK, do not dial +44, but do start the number with 0. For example, if you call UKCISA from within the UK, dial 020 7107 9922.

Textphone numbers are only for those who use a textphone (minicom) because of difficulties with speech or hearing.


© UKCISA
This information sheet may be printed and reproduced provided it is copied unaltered and in its entirety, including UKCISA's logo, disclaimer, copyright statement and the reference to UKCISA's website as a source of further updates, and provided that no charge is made to any persons for copies. NO PART OF IT MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES.

The information in this Information Sheet is given in good faith and has been carefully checked. UKCISA, however, accepts no legal responsibility for its accuracy.

   

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