NHS Learning Support Fund 2026/27: Student Nurse Funding

Training to be a nurse, midwife or allied health professional means long unpaid placements on top of lectures, which is why this fund exists. The figures below come from the NHS Business Services Authority's 2026/27 guidance booklet and its Learning Support Fund pages, and they apply to the 2026/27 academic year only: NHSBSA warns that the rules may change in future years, so check before planning ahead. This guide covers amounts, eligibility and how the pieces fit together, and then points you to what a first NHS salary looks like when you qualify.

What the fund pays

NHSBSA also says the fund is designed to supplement your income, so you should not rely on it as your main source of financial support. It sits alongside student loans for tuition and maintenance, which are separate and not covered on this page.

Who is eligible

To apply you must:

• ✓ Be studying an approved pre-registration healthcare course at a university in England
• ✓ Be eligible for both tuition fee and maintenance loans (or, if you choose not to take out a loan, be able to show you would have met the criteria), and meet the residency rules of the relevant student finance body
• ✓ Be actively studying, including placements

You cannot receive it if you:

• ✕ Are paid by your employer while you study (for example released to attend your course on your usual wage)
• ✕ Receive a training salary from an NHS organisation to do your course
• ✕ Receive the NHS Bursary (NHSBSA says you are not eligible for the NHS LSF in that case)
• ✕ Are in a foundation year, or on a post-registration course
• ✕ Are on a paramedic DipHE or foundation degree (these paramedic courses are not eligible)

If you are studying paramedicine, pharmacy or healthcare science as a second degree and cannot access full student loan funding because you already hold a qualification, you may still be considered case by case; for pharmacy and healthcare science, support is limited to TDAE.

Courses and the £1,000 extra

The approved pre-registration courses listed in NHSBSA's 2026/27 booklet are: dental therapy, dental hygiene, dietetics, nursing (adult, child, learning disabilities, mental health, dual-qualification programmes, and nursing/social work joint), midwifery, occupational therapy, operating department practitioner, orthoptics, orthotics and prosthetics, paramedicine, physiotherapy, podiatry/chiropody, radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic) and speech and language therapy. Healthcare science practitioner training programmes and undergraduate pharmacy are listed but only for placement travel costs.

The Specialist Subject Payment of £1,000 a year is for:

• Mental health nursing
• Learning disability nursing
• Radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)
• Prosthetics and orthotics
• Orthoptics
• Podiatry

plus dual-qualification courses that incorporate one of these from the start. It is added automatically once your application is approved, and stops from the date you change or leave your course. Adult nursing, child nursing and midwifery are not on the 2026/27 list.

Worked examples

These add up the grant elements only, for a full-time student for a full academic year, before student loans and any means-tested hardship payment. They are illustrations, not guarantees: your award depends on your application and evidence.

Over a three-year degree, the last student in the table could receive up to £24,000 from the fund alone, but only if they remain eligible and reapply each year. Remember that placements cost money on top, which is what TDAE is for.

Part-time students

On a designated part-time course, the Training Grant is paid in proportion to the full-time amount, according to your attendance pattern:

Parental Support is also reduced for part-time students based on their study pattern. Instalments are paid across three terms as for full-time students.

Travel and dual accommodation costs

TDAE reimburses extra costs of attending practice placements: the additional travel compared with your usual journey to university, and temporary accommodation where needed. You claim through your NHS LSF account, normally within six months of the costs, with receipts. NHSBSA says it normally pays within 20 working days of receiving a claim, unless there are queries.

• Placements outside the British Isles normally attract the same support (extra travel and temporary accommodation only). Air fares, visas, inoculations or medical tests, travel and medical insurance, and administration fees are not reimbursed, with limited exceptions where an overseas placement is mandatory and there is no UK alternative.
• From September 2026 there is a pilot of advance payment: eligible students can apply for up to £200 for travel, £400 for temporary accommodation or £600 for both before starting a placement, or claim retrospectively as normal.

Exceptional Support Fund

The Exceptional Support Fund is a means-tested, discretionary, one-off grant of up to £3,000 for sudden, unexpected hardship. You must show you are using all available student funding, that you have applied to your university hardship fund, and details of your income and regular spending. It is not designed to make up a shortfall in your student loan or bridge a delay in your loan being paid, not all applications succeed, and it is not available to pharmacy or healthcare science students.

Applying and when you are paid

1. Register an NHS LSF online account on the NHSBSA website.
2. Apply normally within six months of the start of your academic year, with supporting evidence such as your student finance award notification.
3. Reapply each academic year within the published deadline, using the same account.
4. Confirm each term that you are still attending; your university confirms attendance before each payment.

For autumn starters in 2026/27, NHSBSA lists instalments on 17 November 2026, 16 March 2027 and 20 July 2027. The rules and dates are for 2026/27 only, so check the NHSBSA site for the year you are applying in.

If your circumstances change

• Leaving or taking a break: tell NHSBSA within one month of your last day of attendance to avoid overpayments you would have to repay.
• Illness or injury: if you are not in active study for more than 60 days, payments stop from day 61 and may restart when your university confirms your return.
• Transferring course: payments may stop if the new course is not eligible, and you may need to wait until the next academic year to apply again.
• Maternity or adoption leave: you may continue to be paid for up to 12 months or until you return, if your university approves the leave.
• Parental responsibility changes: Parental Support stops if you no longer have it, or you may get a proportional payment from when you gain it.

After qualifying: your first NHS pay

Newly qualified nurses, midwives and many AHPs join at Band 5, which starts at £32,073 in England in 2026/27. Use our Starting Band Estimator to see where your experience places you, the NHS Pay Calculator for take-home pay, and our guides to student loan repayments and preceptorship. If you are weighing routes, our apprenticeships guide covers earn-while-you-learn options, which are funded differently and do not use this fund.