Request

I would like to know how many applicants are refused these grants and for what reasons. I believe this is something you can request from the NHS Business Services Authority as an Arm’s Length Body of the Department of Health and Social Care. I think I’m correct in saying that whilst there are devolved powers to the Welsh Government regarding business services, administration of the LSF isn’t one of them.

Response

Since the NHS Learning Support Fund Grant launched in 2020, the NHSBSA have rejected the following number of applications for the Training Grant award in each academic year:

• Academic Year 2020/21 – 5,562

• Academic Year 2021/22 – 2,961

While we do record the reason for rejection on the individual student’s record, this is not stored in a way which is directly accessible, so we are unable to provide a breakdown of these figures into specific categories. However, the main reasons are due to student’s not fulfilling the eligibility criteria for receiving the funding which includes:

• Students must be eligible for the tuition fee and maintenance grant from Student Loans Company, or, if they have not taken out a student loan due to personal reasons, they meet the appropriate eligibility criteria.

• Students must be ordinarily resident in the UK.

• Students must be studying on an eligible programme

Additionally, the NHSBSA may reject applications at a student’s request, for instance if they have decided not to take up training on an eligible course, or they have inadvertently created a second funding account and need the original deactivating.

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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