Removal of student bursary to go ahead, DoH confirms

The Department of Health (DoH) has confirmed that plans to remove bursaries and introduce a loans system for pre-registration student nurses, midwives and allied health professionals are set to go ahead.

Responding to a consultation on the proposals, the DoH maintained it would offer tuition and maintenance bursaries for a limited number of pre-registration postgraduate students starting in 2017-18.

The statement maintained that the offering would be a ‘transitional arrangement only for new entrants in 2017 until a longer-term solution is finalised from 2018 onwards’.

Students are expected to graduate with a loan borrowing of between £47,712 and £59,106 depending on the course studied, location and whether or not the student lives in the parental home.

Furthermore, repayment would begin once a graduate was earning £21,000 and will constitute nine per cent of income over this figure.

The DoH statement also included making a number of provisions, including additional funding of £1,000 each year for students with child dependents ‘to reflect that students undertaking clinical placements may have higher childcare costs than the wider student population’.

Other points raised in the statement included: travel and dual accommodation – the DoH will provide healthcare students the £303 that they would have to pay upfront as an excess liable for student payment on the student loans system. The government will cover the cost of students who have to pay for secondary accommodation whilst attending clinical placements if the case for educational provision and value for money is demonstrated; exceptional hardship – the DoH will work with experts such as the RCN to provide bursary payments in cases of exceptional hardship, where students meet eligibility requirements; dental hygiene and dental therapy – until a long-term funding solution is found for these subjects, the government will fund a capped number of dental hygiene and dental therapy students on the 2017/18 cohort on the same, non-repayable terms as under the current system; and second undergraduate degrees - students who are planning to undertake nursing, midwifery and allied health professional subjects as a second degree will be able to access the standard student support system, on the same terms as students studying for a first degree.

Health minister Philip Dunne commented: “Currently two thirds of people who apply to university to become a nurse are not offered a place - we are committed to plans to increase the number of training places for home-grown nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, with those in training getting around 25 per cent more financial support while they study.

“We’ve listened to feedback from the consultation and as a result will provide extra funding to help cover additional expenses like travel and more support for students with children. We will work with the RCN, hospitals and other partners in taking this forward.”