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Covid Update

On Tuesday 29 March, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, set out the next steps for living with COVID-19 in England from Friday 1 April.

Updated guidance advises:

  • Adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and no longer have a high temperature.
  • Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can return to college when they no longer have a high temperature, and are well enough to attend.
  • Adults with a positive COVID-19 test result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days, which is when they are most infectious. For children and young people aged 18 and under, the advice is 3 days.

For education and childcare settings from Friday 1 April:

  • Regular asymptomatic testing is no longer recommended in any education or childcare setting, including in SEND, alternative provision and children’s social care settings. Therefore, we will no longer be able to order test kits .

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Funding Options and Applications

16 -18 Funding
Options

This area provides information on the funding options available, and links to application pages for those aged 16-18, those who are 19 but on the second year of a course they started when they were in the 16-18 age bracket, and anyone with an approved Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), who will be aged 24 and under on the 31 August in the first year of your study programme. Learners who are travelling from Wales will need to apply for the Welsh Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). If not eligible for this scheme or in need of additional support then you can apply for the 16-18 bursary.

Return to Main Financial Support Page

Jump to:

Welsh Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)
16-18 Bursary
Vulnerable Young Person Bursary (VYP)
Free College Meals
Childcare Support for Young Parents

Welsh Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)

Am I Eligible?

Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is for 16 to 18 year olds living in Wales, who want to continue their education after school leaving age. If you are eligible, you could get £40 a week, paid every two weeks.

Your household income must be below a certain level for you to get EMA. There are two different levels depending on your family circumstances:

  • Household income must be £20,817 or less if you're the only young person in the household.
  • Household income must be £23,077 or less if there is more than one young person in the household (this includes you).

As this is an external scheme, applications are only available via Student Finance Wales, who have full control over the outcome of your application.

Click here for further information or to apply.

What Will I Get?

If eligible, you may be able to receive up to £40 per week, paid fortnightly based on your attendance.

To learn more Click here to view "The Little Book of EMA".

Click below to see eligibility for FCM:

Free College Meals Scheme

Q. I am not attending college. Will I still get my Welsh EMA?

To get EMA payments, you must have your attendance confirmed by your school or college. This applies to pupils not attending school due to expulsion, suspension, illness or other reasons. The school or college is responsible for this decision. You should contact your school or college with any questions about attendance. You can do this by email at [email protected] or in person by visiting the team at your campus.

Q. When do I get my Welsh EMA payments?

You can start getting EMA payments as soon as you start your course(s), as long as you apply on time, agree to and sign the EMA Agreement with the MMS Team and meet the attendance requirements.

16-18 Bursary

Am I Eligible?

To be eligible, learners must:
  • Be aged 16-18 on the 31 August in the 1st year of a study programme, aged 19 but in the 2nd year of a study programme you started before turning 19, or be aged 19-24 with an approved Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
  • Have settled status, have been an ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start date of the course, or are in one of the exception groups (contact [email protected] if unsure).
  • Be studying an approved further education course (e.g. not an apprenticeship or any waged training such as a traineeship) AND
  • Be able to demonstrate receipt of a means tested benefit or a house hold income of £33,000 a year or less.
  • Learners who live in Wales, and who are eligible should apply for EMA. If not eligible, or if further support is required, a 16-18 bursary application can be submitted.

Being in receipt of a 16-18 bursary will have no effect on eligibility for state benefits, this is because the bursary does not support with payments towards living costs.

Did you receive a 16-18 bursary at SGS College in the 22/23 academic year? GREAT NEWS! Guidance for the 23/24 academic year states that as long as your financial circumstances have remained the same, we do not need to see your evidence again for the new academic year. We will need signature on a declaration form.

What Will I Get?

If awarded, your bursary will be based on your individual needs and will be constructed of 3 potential elements:

  • Support towards the payment of any invoiced material fees - (A one off payment paid directly to the Department).
  • Support towards the purchase of kit/equipment, professional membership fees and DBS checks for academic courses - (A one of payment paid directly to the Department, or if applicable paid into your designated bank account*).
  • **Support towards travel if during term time you live 2 miles or more from the college site you are attending - (This could be an academic year buss pass (mTicket), a student railcard, and/or money paid into your account on a monthly basis).

* Please note that you may be asked to initially and at various points during the year produce receipts for any travel, kit and equipment that you have purchased with the bursary payment provided.

Monthly travel payments will only be automatically released if attendance in the 4 weeks prior to the date of the bursary payment run is 90% or above. Please click here to apply: Please click here to apply for Financial Support

Click below to see eligibility for FCM:

Free College Meals Scheme

Q. How long does it take to process my bursary application?

We aim to send you an outcome letter via email within 4 weeks of receiving your application, however, during our busy periods it may take longer. Please be aware that we will email you from FEBursary which is a noreply address. If you wish to contact us then send an email to [email protected]. You can also track the progress of your application on the home page of your PayMyStudent account

Q. How and when will I be paid if I am awarded a bursary?

This will vary depending on the elements of the bursary that you are awarded. Some awards are one off payments and may be made directly to the Department. You may also be sent voucher codes to purchase a bus ticket (mTicket). If you are awarded money for travel this will be paid directly into your designated bank account via a BACS payment and will generally land in your account by the first Monday of every month (with the exception of bank holidays and the Christmas period). If your application is successful we will send you an award payment schedule detailing when and how you will be paid. Please be aware that if you are awarded money for travel or to purchase items you need for your course, you may be asked to produce a receipt.

Q. Can my bursary be paid to someone else's account?

We do not expect bursary payments to be paid into another person�s account unless in exceptional circumstances where you are unable to administer your own account and manage your own funds. In these circumstances you can request that money is paid into another account, we will however request that you complete the Bank Account Permissions Form which can be found on the home page of your PayMyStudent account before we will release any payments to you. South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (paymystudent.com)

Q. My bank details have changed since I submitted my bursary application. What should I do?

If your bank details change, you must visit PayMyStudent and update your details as soon as possible. Failure to do so could cause delays to you receiving your award. Please contact us at [email protected] South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (paymystudent.com).

Q. I applied for my bursary, but what if I change my course?

Please notify us at [email protected] if you change your course; we may need to adjust any course fee awards.

Q. What if I withdraw after applying for a bursary?

Bursary awards and payments are there to enable you to attend your course(s) at College. If you withdraw from learning with SGS College all bursary payments will stop and you may be liable to pay material fees or return some or all of your bursary equipment/award. If you have been awarded an mTicket this will be cancelled from the day of your withdrawal. If you activate the ticket after your withdrawal date then you will be asked to repay the money to the College.

Q. Why haven't I received my bursary payment?

You may not have received your bursary payment if your attendance is below 90%. You can review your account on PayMyStudent to see why your bursary has not been paid. If you believe the attendance record is incorrect, please speak to a member of your department. Alternatively, we could hold incorrect bank details for you; to check this, please visit the team or email [email protected]. Payments are also based on students meeting the College's Behaviour Policy requirements.

Q. What if my attendance falls below the required limit?

Bursary payments will be automatically paid if your attendance is 90% or above in the month prior to the payment run. If there are genuine reasons for lower attendance then speak with your tutor or wellbeing and ask them if they would be willing to complete and submit a bursary release form to [email protected]. We will send you an email from FEBursary to let you know if you are not included on the main bursary run for the month.

Q. Why has my application been declined?

There are several reasons why your application may be declined and these will be explained in a Green or Red Decline letter that we will send from FEBursary. Examples of reasons could be: your household income is above the bursary threshold, incomplete application, ineligible course, evidence uploaded is not sufficient or as requested, no funds remaining.

Q. What if I apply late or supply evidence late?

As all awards are subject to available funding, we would recommend applying early and ensuring that all evidence has been uploaded to your application as requested as soon as possible. If funds are available, your bursary will be awarded from the month following your complete application/submission of sufficient evidence and may not be backdated.

Vulnerable Young Person Bursary

Am I Eligible?

To be eligible you must:
  • be in one or more of the vulnerable groups listed below
  • be aged under 19
  • be participating in an approved further education study programme.
The defined vulnerable groups are students who are:
  • in care
  • care leavers
  • receiving Income Support (IS), or Universal Credit (UC) because they are financially supporting themselves or someone who is dependent on them and living with t hem such as a child or partner
  • receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in their own right as well as Employment and Support Allowance (DLA) or UC in their own right.

*Please note that all Q&A in 16-18 Bursary above, also apply to the VYP Bursary.

What Will I Get?

If you meet the criteria for a VYP Bursary, dependent upon your circumstances and needs you may get:
  • Support towards material fees, kit and equipment and travel as detailed in the 16-18 bursary above, plus support towards other essential items you may need to enable to you to attend college.
  • The maximum award amount is up to £1,200.00 per learner, per year. Please be aware that any monthly monetary awards will be paid based on attendance (80%).
  • If you are studying on a programme that is less than 30 weeks, a pro-rata amount will be awarded.

*Please be aware that any monthly monetary awards will be paid based on attendance (80%). Please click here to apply for Financial Support

Free College Meals

Am I Eligible?

To be eligible for this scheme:
  • At the start of the course you must be aged 16-18 or 19-24 with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
  • You or a parent/ guardian must be in receipt of an approved state benefit.
  • Or, if you are no longer in receipt of an approved state benefit, if you have been in receipt of free school/college meals since April 2018 then you may still be eligible for free college meals under protected status. You will need to provide evidence of this in the form of, for example: a letter/email from the local authority or from your previous school or college.

Click here for details of acceptable benefits

What Will I Get?

If awarded Free College Meals, (FCM,) for each day they are timetabled to attend College, learners can access up to £4.40 to spend in the College onsite canteens and coffee shops.

  • To access the money learners can download the UPay App on their phones and pay using the QR code, or use their College ID cards to make their purchases. Please note that any money not spent at the end of each day will disappear (it will not roll over to the next day).
  • If the learner is attending a College site with no canteen facilities then alternative arrangements will be made.
  • If the learner has any dietary requirements that are not being met by the College menus then they can speak to the canteen staff who will arrange to offer a suitable alternative.
  • If the learner goes on a work placement or trip, they can pick up a non-perishable packed lunch from an MMS office.

Q. How do I apply for Free College Meals (FCM)?

When you complete the financial support questionnaire form on PayMyStudent, when asked if you would like to apply for FCM say �yes�. South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (paymystudent.com)

Q. How do I access my FCM Payments? (Including using the app)

To access this money, you can now download an app on your phone and use the QR code to pay, or you can scan your student ID badge to pay at the till. Please be aware however, that if you change your card, you will have to let MMS know and wait for your new card to be registered before you can use it.

  1. Click Here to Download the Upay App
    1. Please be aware that you may need to connect to the college Wi-Fi if your own signal is not very strong.
    2. Follow instructions to register on the App.
    3. The Affiliate ID is: SGSCOL
    4. Your Student IO is: Your Student IO is: Your student number shown on all official college documents as �student ref�
Download Upay User Guide

Q. How do I know if I have been awarded FCM?

You will receive an email from FeBursary confirming that you have been awarded free college meals and how to access your free meals while at College. You can also check your PayMyStudent account where you can find any letters sent to you on the bottom right of the home page. South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (paymystudent.com). If you are not sure if you have been awarded then you can visit an MMS office.

Childcare Support for Young Parents

Am I Eligible?

To qualify you must:
  • be a parent under 20 at the start of your course
  • be the main carer for your child
  • live in England
  • be a British citizen or have the legal right to live and study in England
  • your childcare provider must be either; registered with Ofsted, registered with a childminder agency or a school.

Please Note: You will not be eligible for Care to Learn funding if you are an apprentice who gets a salary.

As this is an external scheme, applications are only available via Gov.uk, who have full control over the outcome of your application. Click here for further information or to apply.

To apply, you will need the following information about SGS College:

  • Education institution: The South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.
  • Contact name: Lynette Loughran.
  • Email address: [email protected]
  • Phone number: 0117 9092381

What Will I Get?

The Care to Learn scheme can support with childcare costs whilst you study at SGS College. You could get up to £180.00 per child per week. Care to Learn can help with the cost of:

  • your childcare, including deposit and registration fee
  • a childcare taster session for up to 5 days
  • keeping your childcare place over the summer holiday
  • taking your child to their childcare provider