Support for Nursing and Midwifery Students in Scotland 2014/15

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© Crown copyright, 2014

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First published by The Scottish Government, July 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78412-387-1 (web only)

E-book in EPUB format first published by The Scottish Government, July 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78412-388-8 (EPUB)

E-book in MOBI format first published by The Scottish Government, July 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78412-389-5 (MOBI)

The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Produced for The Scottish Government by APS Group Scotland, 21 Tennant Street, Edinburgh EH6 5NA
DPPAS27715 (07/14)

Published by The Scottish Government, July 2014

Contents

Introduction

Eligibility

Support for NHS employees who enter nursing and midwifery education

The bursary

Applying for the bursary and allowances

Expenses for clinical placement

General information

Other sources of information

Introduction

This leaflet provides information for students on pre-registration nursing and midwifery courses in Scotland.

It describes the Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary (NMSB) Scheme in Scotland, who is eligible for it, what it is (including current rates) and how you can apply for it. This booklet is for guidance only. It cannot cover all individual circumstances. The scheme is administered by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS).

Eligibility

Students undertaking courses in pre-registration nursing and midwifery leading to the award of a degree may be eligible for a bursary under the NMSB scheme. Eligibility for support depends on THREE criteria – that your course is eligible; that you have not had previous funding; and that you meet the residence requirements.

Course eligibility

Bursaries are for eligible students attending courses which:

- lead to registration on the Professional Register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC); and

- are partly or wholly funded by the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates (SGHSCD).

Funding Eligibility

You may not be eligible for a bursary if you have received support in the past for a pre-registration nursing course; eligibility will depend on the type and level of funding previously received.

Residence Eligibility

You must have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man for the three years immediately before the relevant date (the first day of the first academic year of the course). This date will be 1 August. If you are not a UK national you must also have settled status in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 on the same relevant dates. To find out about getting settled status, you can visit the Home Office website or phone their helpline on 0870 6067766. If you have not been living in the UK you may still qualify, depending on your circumstances.

You must also be ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of your course. Ordinarily resident has been defined in the courts as 'habitual and normal residence in one place'. It means that you, your parents or your husband or wife live in a country year after year by choice throughout a set period, apart from temporary or occasional absences such as holidays or business trips.

We will not treat you as ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom if your main purpose in coming here was for education and you would have otherwise have been living elsewhere.

Students from abroad

If you do not meet the conditions set out above, support may still be available to:

- UK nationals and family members of such nationals returning from other member states of the European Union (EU) or from elsewhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland;

- UK nationals who were born in and have spent the greater part of their life in the UK;

- UK nationals returning from employment or study outside the EEA or Switzerland;

- nationals of EEA countries (Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) who have been granted permanent residence in the UK, and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren;

- nationals and family members of nationals of other EU member states, and Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, who have migrant worker or self-employed status in the UK;

- nationals, and family members of nationals, of other EU member states, and Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, who have frontier worker or frontier self-employed status in the UK;

- people recognised as refugees by the British Government, and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren;

- people who have been granted 'exceptional leave to enter or remain'; 'humanitarian protection' or 'discretionary leave' in the UK and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren;

- Iraqi nationals who have been granted indefinite leave to enter the United Kingdom under the Locally Engaged Staff Assistance Schemes (Direct Entry), their husbands, wives, civil partners and children (not stepchildren);

- anyone who is under the age of 18 and has been granted temporary protection;

- anyone who is the child of a Swiss national; and

- anyone who is the child of a Turkish worker.

Students from the European Union

European Union students applying for fees and living-cost support must meet the residence conditions for UK nationals in the UK (as set out in the Immigration Act 1971).

You may qualify for support with your tuition fees if you meet all of the following conditions:

- You are an EU national, or a family member of an EU national;

- You have been ordinarily resident in a member state of the EU or elsewhere in the EEA or Switzerland for the three years immediately before the relevant date; and

- You are taking a full-time course in pre-registration nursing or midwifery leading to entry in the Register of nurses maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Support for NHS employees who enter nursing and midwifery education

Healthcare assistants who have undertaken an HNC in Healthcare and are entering year 2 of a pre-registration nursing or midwifery course.

Healthcare assistants entering year 2 of the pre-registration programme after successfully completing an HNC in Healthcare may be offered the option of secondment from their NHS employers or they may apply for bursary support.

You may not receive your salary and a bursary at the same time. If you opt to take your salary, and subsequently wish to apply for a bursary, you may not do so until the next year of the course. You may not change your support arrangements during the year.

Secondment

NHS employers may allow staff a period of secondment to undertake a nursing or midwifery course on the basis of their existing pay and conditions. In these cases, you will not be able to apply for bursary support. Your employer must decide whether to allow a secondment and employees do not have a right to secondment on these terms. If your employer is unable to agree to secondment, you may choose to resign in order to undertake the course. In this case, you will be eligible for a bursary. These arrangements and conditions also apply to existing enrolled nurses who wish to convert to Part 1 of the Register (enrolled nurse conversion).

If you are a full-time employee seconded by an NHS Board you should:

- receive the basic pay for the post held immediately before start of training, and qualify for increments;

- keep your existing liability for tax and National Insurance;

- be eligible to join or remain in the NHS Superannuation and Injury Benefits Schemes;

- keep your existing rights under Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions of Services, with modifications to reflect your student status, e.g. annual leave; and

- be expected to undergo exactly the same educational programmes as other students. (You will not be expected to provide a higher rostered service contribution.)

You and your employer should also have a clear agreement about:

- whether or not you will be expected to work, or be given the opportunity to work, for your employer as a qualified nurse or midwife on completion of the course;

- how long you will be expected to do such work; and

- what will happen if you fail to complete the course.

Your employer must meet your travel and subsistence expenditure during practice placements.

Part-time employees seconded by an NHS Board

Part-time employees seconded to nursing courses should not suffer financially. Again, it is for your employer to decide whether you should be seconded on your existing part-time salary, or an enhanced salary, to take account of the fact that the nursing and midwifery courses are full time.

The bursary

The bursary is for the normal duration of the course that you are undertaking. If you are taking the four-year honours degree course and you are eligible for a bursary, you will receive the full bursary rate for years 1-3 and a 75% bursary for year 4. This is because year 4 does not cover the full 52 weeks.

The bursary covers the whole year and is a non-income-assessed personal allowance.

For 2014/15, the rate is:

- £6,578 for students at the start of the course.

Students may also be eligible for one or more of the following allowances:

- £60 Initial Expenses Allowance. This will be included in the first instalment of the bursary.

An income-assessed Dependant's Allowance, where appropriate:

The maximum amounts you can receive through this allowance are:

- £2,640 for a spouse or cohabiting partner or, if you are single, one adult you have a legal responsibility for with little or no income from any sources.

- £2,640 for the first child where there is no dependent husband or wife, or other dependent adult.

- £557 for each other dependent child.

You may claim this allowance for your spouse or cohabiting partner, dependent children and any younger brothers or sisters for whom you have a legal responsibility. If any of these dependants have income of their own, the total amount will be taken into account, but £1,160 will be allowed against the income your dependants have.

For example, if you are married with 2 children and your spouse has income, 3 x £1,160 = £3,480 will be deducted from your spouse's income when calculating the Dependant's Allowance you should receive. What is left of your spouse's income following the deduction of £3,480 will reduce the amount payable pound for pound.

Dependant's Allowance is paid provisionally and SAAS will reassess your allowance at the end of your year of study when they receive confirmation of the actual income that your dependants received. If SAAS reduce the Dependant's Allowance as a result, you will have to repay the amount you received over your entitlement. The Dependant's Allowance will be paid with your bursary.

- £1,303 Lone Parent allowance.

- Up to £1,216 for registered childcare costs.

This grant is available to students who have children and have expenses for registered childcare. You can receive up to £1,216 a year, depending on the cost of childcare. 'Registered' childcare includes childminders, after-school clubs and providers of day-care and who are registered with the Care Inspectorate. If you are getting your full childcare costs paid from other sources (for example, your institution) you should not apply for this grant. You should contact SAAS first for help with your childcare costs before you ask for help from any other source. When you fill in your application form you should tell SAAS if you think you may be entitled to this support. They will ask you for details about your childcare provider and confirmation of the amounts you will pay.

Disabled Students Allowance

If you have a disability you may apply to SAAS for certain extra expenses which arise because you are on the course. They will consider paying the following amounts:

- Up to £1,725 for any qualifying cost during the academic year.

- Up to £20,520 a year for non-medical personal help.

- Up to £5,160 for major items of specialist equipment (this is a total amount for the course, not for each year of the course).

Maternity

If a student wishes to withdraw from her course, temporarily, because of pregnancy and/or childbirth, the student will continue to receive her bursary support during the absence. In order to do so, the student must discuss her circumstances with the course leader at the HEI and agree start and end dates for the period of absence. The earliest date for maternity leave to begin would normally be 11 weeks before the expected date of confinement. It is for students and HEIs to agree when the student will return, but this continued support will only be available for a maximum of 45 weeks. HEIs will advise the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) of the agreed leave start and return dates. When a student begins her period of approved absence, she will then continue to receive the support that she would have received if she had continued on the course. However, childcare allowance will normally cease once the authorised absence formally starts, unless the student is contractually committed beyond that date.

Applying for the bursary and allowances

You can apply for student support at www.saas.gov.uk. by completing an online application form.

Once they have processed your application, SAAS will send you an Award Notice telling you what you will receive. All instalments for each year will be paid into your bank. You must supply valid bank account details at the time of applying, and advise SAAS of any changes to these details.

Expenses for clinical placement

Clinical placement is the part of the course that consists of supervised practice in clinical areas. You can claim expenses for some extra travel and reasonable accommodation costs so you are not out of pocket. Educational or observational visits that are part of the general academic costs of the course should be paid for by your institution. You must meet the cost of daily travel to and from your institution and your normal day-to-day living expenses from the £5 per day personal allowance included in your bursary.

Travel

As there is £5 included within the bursary for daily travel already, you can only claim for placement travel if the cheapest method of public transport exceeds £5 per day.

You are expected to use student offers, season passes and zonecards wherever possible. If you claim more than the cheapest fare available, your claim will be restricted to the cheapest fare. If public transport is available but you choose to use your own car, expenses will be restricted to the cost of public transport.

If nearby public transport is unavailable for your shift times, you must seek agreement in advance from your institution to use your car. The use of your car may also be authorised if you are using it to reach nearby public transport or are on a community placement and have used your car for patient visits. You will be reimbursed at the current motor mileage rate of 40p per mile.

Airfares can be paid where your institution is satisfied they are justified. You should always seek your institution's agreement in advance if you want to have airfares paid.

If you expect your travel costs to exceed £30 per day, you should seek local accommodation wherever possible.

You will not be reimbursed for any taxi fares, tips, sleeper berths, carriage of luggage or bicycles, parking costs and any travel not directly related to the practice placement.

Accommodation

You can claim for reasonable accommodation costs if you have to live away from home or a term-time address whilst on placement.

You must only claim the cheapest accommodation available to you. If you incur costs for staying with friends or family, we will reimburse you up to a maximum of £15 per night. The cost of all meals, food etc. during placement that are not included in accommodation costs (i.e. bed & breakfast) must be met from your personal allowance.

Applying for clinical placement expenses

You should apply for expenses immediately after each placement except:

- Where you will have a large outlay for accommodation, a claim can be paid in advance;

- Where the cost of travel for the placement will cause you undue financial hardship. Your institution may allow you to apply in advance, or part way through the placement.

Give your completed expenses form to your institution. They will assess each claim on its merits, deciding on the most appropriate method and costs of travel, before passing the approved claim to SAAS who will arrange for payment to your bank account within 28 days of receiving the approved claim.

All claims must be received by SAAS within 6 months of your placement end date and be accompanied by receipts for all travel and accommodation.

General information

Previous assistance from public funds

You can receive a bursary for courses under the NMSB scheme even if you have previously received support from public funds for further or higher education. However, if you receive an NMSB scheme bursary and subsequently apply for assistance for further or higher education, you may not be entitled to further support. You should seek advice from SAAS about what support, if any, might be available.

Study after qualification

The NMSB scheme does not provide support for nurses who have completed their course and have been entered in the Professional Register to top up their qualification to degree or honours degree level.

Studying abroad – Erasmus-Socrates in nursing studies

Some students may be allowed by their institution to undertake part (one module) of their course abroad. Where this period abroad is an integral part of the course, contributing to qualification as a nurse or midwife, and is included in the normal three year bursary period (four years for honours degree students), the bursary will continue to be paid for the period abroad. No additional funding will be available and no travel costs will be paid.

Other sources of information

Once you are offered a place on your course, you can apply to SAAS for funding. You will be able to apply online in the spring for courses starting in Autumn 2014. The quickest and easiest way to apply is to use the SAAS online application service. If you are unable to apply online then please contact SAAS who keep a small supply of paper applications. You must apply for bursary each year.

For enquiries about your bursary contact:

Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary Section
SAAS
Gyleview House
3 Redheughs Rigg
Edinburgh EH12 9HH
tel: 0300 555 0505
website email: www.saas.gov.uk/contact.htm

Students are recruited and processed by the UCAS application system.

UCAS
PO Box 21
Cheltenham
GL52 3CZ
tel: 0871 4680468
e-mail: enquiries@ucas.ac.uk

Further copies of this booklet may be obtained from:

Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates
Chief Nursing Officer Directorate
St Andrew's House
GE:19
Regent Road
Edinburgh EH1 3DG
e-mail: cnopp_admin@scotland.gsi.gov.uk