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If you are aged 16-19 years old, or up to 25 years old with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) you may be eligible for bursary funds. This blog will help provide you with an overview of the funding options. If eligible, these options enable learners to overcome specific financial barriers allowing them to remain in education. In this blog we’ll dive into who is eligible, the two types of bursaries available, as well as how to apply. If you have any questions around the 16-19 year old bursary funds, please don’t hesitate to contact our Education team.
Who is eligible for the Bursary Funds?
Not everyone is eligible for bursary funds. To meet the criteria set out by the government, you must be at least 16-19 years old on the 31st August 2024, or up to 25 years old with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), study at a publicly funded school, college or an unpaid training course and meet the residency requirements. If you’re unsure whether you are eligible, please do get in touch and we can discuss this with you in more detail. It’s important to establish whether you are eligible before you apply.
Bursary Fund options
There are two bursary fund options, the first is the Vulnerable Bursary and the second is the Discretionary Bursary. Both of which are provided with the intention to purchase travel to and from the learning environment, essential books, equipment or clothing related to the educational programme. It is not intended to purchase additional learning support.
Vulnerable Bursary
The Vulnerable Bursary is for young people under 20 years of age that are living in care, care leavers or have universal credit in their own name. If they receive PIP (personal independence payments) or DLA (disability living allowance) they must also have universal credit in their own name to qualify.
All we need as evidence for this bursary is a completed bursary application, evidence of universal credit and other benefits received by the young person, or a letter to state the young person is in care or a care leaver.
Vulnerable bursary is just £11.11 a day to be used towards travel cost and meals. It is not possible to pay for travel costs or other items through this bursary.
This information is relevant to 2024/2025 learners and can change, however you can find up to date information on the government website.
Discretionary Bursary
The Discretionary Bursary is based on household income. The income for the household must be under £30,000. Evidence needed for this bursary is a completed bursary application, three months bank statements from everyone in the household and evidence of all benefits received by the household. For this bursary we will need proof of travel cost, if your young person receives council transport you will need to pay the initial payment which will be reimbursed once bursary has been agreed.
We will need evidence of your payment to the council and after the initial payment all payments will be made directly to the council, so you do not have to worry. Any invoices for payments will need to be emailed over to studentsupport@wstraining.co.uk so we can make sure these are paid on time.
With the discretionary bursary we can pay for council travel if the invoice is provided, the first payment for council travel will need to be paid by you to the council but this can be reimbursed if you are accepted for bursary payments. Also, any trips and clothing needed for placements can be covered by bursary if pre agreed.
Discretionary bursary payments depend on travel costs (This does not include cost of parents to transport learners) we also pay £5.00 for meal money each day; this is to go towards supplying your young person with lunch.
Once again, this information is relevant to 2024/2025 learners and can change, however you can find up to date information on the government website.
How to apply
If you’d like to apply for a bursary, applications will be sent out nearer to September. Please try to return this as soon as you can as bursary is first come first served. We will chase you twice for any missing evidence/information and a deadline date will be provided. If evidence is not received by this time, then we will have to decline your application.
Declined bursary applications can be revised if there is a change to your circumstances.
All evidence can be posted to WS Training IP-City Centre, 1 Bath Street, Ipswich, IP2 8SD or emailed to supportedlearning@wstraining.co.uk
This information is subject to change once 2025/2026 bursary guidance has been created by the government.
Please note, WS Training are not financial providers, and we do not provide financial advice. The advice in this blog post has come from the government and you can visit their website for more up-to-date information.
Visit the government website for more information. 16 to 19 Bursary Fund guide: 2024 to 2025 academic year – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
