The 16-19 Bursary Fund provides financial support for sixth form students to overcome specific barriers to remain in education. The fund has previously been administered by Sheffield City Council.

The DfE is very clear that the bursary fund is intended to help students with the essential costs of participating in their study programme, so to help with the cost of essential books or equipment or with the cost of travelling to school or college, for example. The bursary fund is not intended to support costs not related to education.

What a bursary is for

A bursary is money that you, or your education or training provider, can use to pay for things like:

• Travel to and from school.
• Meals – to the value of a free school meal unless already eligible for free school meals.
• Essential materials including stationery.
• Essential textbooks if not provided by school.
• Calculators.
• Travel expenses for university open day visits – for students only.
• Course related activities and visits.
• Sport activities where these relate directly to the course.
• UCAS application fee

School will provide all materials. The DfE expects schools "to pay bursaries in-kind rather than cash as far as possible"

To qualify for the Bursary Fund the student must be aged 16 or over but under 19 at 31^st August and meet one of the two criteria listed below:

Students who meet the first criteria listed below will receive a guaranteed bursary payment of £1,200 – to qualify the student must be:

• In Care
• A Care Leaver
• Receiving Income Support, or Universal Credit because they are financially supporting themselves or financially supporting themselves and someone who is dependent on them and living with them such as a child or partner
• Receiving Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments in their own right as well as Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit in their own right

A number of students at Becton School will meet the second listed criteria below and qualify for a partial bursary to cover any transport contribution payable.

• In receipt of Free School Meals (FSM)
• Household Income below the Free School Meals qualifying criteria of £16,190

*If your child receives ESA you cannot claim child benefit for your child.

• The Discretionary bursary is awarded to meet individual student needs. For example, transport, meals, books and equipment.  If you don’t fall into one of the vulnerable groups, but you need financial help to stay in education because you have a low household income, are on benefits and/or receive free school meals, you can apply for a discretionary bursary. In Sheffield this is an income below £16,190

The bursary fund statement for 2023-24 will be available shortly.

All students in Year 12 can apply for the 16-19 bursary by completing the on-line application form. All students who have received the bursary this academic year must re-apply for September 2023 to be eligible; there is no automatic roll-over. Appropriate evidence must be supplied and securely uploaded.

Once eligibility has been approved, a separate application form will be available to claim the items for which financial assistance is required.

The bursary fund application form for 2023-24 will be available shortly.

Students who wish to apply for the 16-19 Bursary are advised to speak to your Learning Mentor. If a student wishes to apply for the discretionary bursary they are advised to apply as soon as they are able for that academic year, but would be able to apply throughout the year providing there is still funding available.  APPLICATIONS WILL NEED TO BE MADE EACH ACADEMIC YEAR.

For more information please see https://www.gov.uk/1619-bursary-fund/overview

For Government benefits advice: https://www.gov.uk/browse/benefits/entitlement

For independent benefit advice contact the Citizens Advice Bureau 03444 113 111 https://citizensadvicesheffield.org.uk/