There are supplementary grants to help with living costs. The extra support you can get depends on your personal circumstances. You do not have to pay back the supplementary grants unless you lose your entitlement to them. If your course requires you to undertake a period of paid placement, you will not be able to claim supplementary grants during this time.
The following information is available on supplementary grants. The links will take you to the relevant section of the page.
Dependants' Grant
You can claim this income-assessed grant for your husband, wife, civil partner or partner. You cannot claim this grant for another student. If your husband, wife, civil partner or partner has any income, this may affect your entitlement. We will pay up to £2,640 to cover the full 52 weeks from the first day of the academic year of your course.
We will take account of any income your husband, wife, civil partner or partner receives during the year. However, we will allow £1,160 against any income they have. The grant you are entitled to is the total of the Dependants' Grant less what is left of your husband's, wife's, civil partner's or partner's income after we have deducted the £1,160. If the income after £1,160 has been deducted is more than the total amount of Dependants' Grant, you will not receive a Dependants' Grant.
We pay the Dependants' Grant provisionally and we will assess your entitlement to the Dependants' Grant again when we receive confirmation at the end of the academic year of the actual income that your husband, wife, civil partner or partner has received. If we reduce the Dependants' Grant after receiving this information, we will ask you to repay whatever you have received over your entitlement.
We will not pay Dependants' Grant for children but you could be entitled to more money through the tax credits. Anyone who is responsible for at least one child, whether or not they are in paid work, can apply for the Child Tax Credit. The Child Tax Credit will also passport free school meals, provided by your Local Education Authority.
You should contact HM Revenue and Customs on 0845 300 3900 to find out if you are eligible for the Child Tax Credit.
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Lone Parents' Grant
You can claim for this income-assessed grant if you are single, widowed, divorced, separated or your civil partnership has dissolved, and you are bringing up children on your own. The Lone Parents' Grant covers 52 weeks of the year from the first day of the academic year of your course.
If you have at least one dependent child, extra support is available either as an extra grant of £1,305 or through us giving you more allowances against your income.
In addition to this, a Lone Parent Childcare Grant entitlement payment of up to £1,215 per year is available to eligible higher education students who are lone parents and who have formal registered childcare expenses while studying. Students do not apply for this from SAAS but instead must contact their college or university who may pay this from their Childcare Fund.
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Advance payment of the Dependants' Grant and the Lone Parents' Grant
These grants cover a period of 52 weeks from the first day of the academic year of your course (this will be 1 August 2009 if your course starts in the autumn). We usually make the first payment at the start of your course, but if this arrangement would cause hardship, please contact us and ask us to pay part of your grant early to cover the period from the first day of your academic year until the start of your course. If you receive an advance payment because of hardship but then do not start your course, you will have to repay the amount you have received.
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Care Leavers Grant
We can pay a grant of up to £105 a week to help you with accommodation costs in the long summer holiday if you were previously looked after (in care). It is paid straight from us to your landlord.
If you meet the following criteria you may be eligible for this grant.
- You have been looked after by a local authority for a three month period which ended on a date on or after your16th birthday and before the first day of your course. (We only count a continuous period of 3 months. You cannot add shorter periods together to make the necessary qualifying period)
- You are under the age of 23 on the first day of your course
- You have claimed your full student loan entitlement
- You are unable to meet your housing costs in full. If your Housing Benefit (HB) covers the cost of their accommodation over the summer vacation you will not be eligible for this grant. However, if HB does not cover all the costs, we can pay the grant in place of HB. It is up to you to decide which you want to claim.
You do not have to be staying in private rented accommodation or halls of residence to claim this grant. You apply if, for example, you are staying with a friend or relative or continuing to live with foster carers.
The grant is not income assessed so you can receive it even if you have income from other sources such as part-time work, benefits, financial support from your Local Authority or sponsorships/scholarships.
You should tell us when you apply if you think you may be entitled to this support. We will send you a form to ask for more details.