Residential Bursary Fund 2022 to 2023
Information for institutions with 16 to 18 Residential Bursary Fund allocations in the 2022 to 2023 academic year
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Who this guide is for
This guide is for institutions with 16 to 18 Residential Bursary Fund (RBF) allocations in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
The guide sets out the funding rules for RBF and forms part of institutions’ ESFA funding agreements. Institutions must comply with the rules, within the context of the RBF policies they set to manage the funds and must be able to show they comply with this guide at any audit.
When we refer to ‘we’ in this guide, we mean ‘Education Funding Agency’ (ESFA).
Important points
RBF is intended to support students who are participating in a designated specialist subject area. Mostly, but not exclusively, this is land-based provision. We expect the majority of students receiving RBF will be studying in the designated specialist subject area for which the institution was awarded RBF.
We do not expect students to whom the institution awards RBF to be participating in general FE provision that is widely available, for example, A levels or vocational qualifications. Any such use should be a genuine exception based on individual student circumstances.
RBF is designed to provide a contribution to an eligible student’s accommodation costs and we expect the majority of an institution’s RBF allocation to be used for this purpose. RBF can be used to help with travel costs between the student’s term time lodgings (if they are not on campus) and the institution where appropriate. RBF cannot be used for travel costs for non-residential students (home to institution travel).
RBF is part of the wider suite of student financial support funding that we provide including the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund and free meals in further education. Like those schemes, RBF helps individual students overcome financial barriers to participation. If a student leaves their study programme part way through the year, the institution must stop RBF payments as they would any other student financial support.
Residential Bursary Fund (RBF) data collection digital form and guidance
Use this form and the guidance to report how you used your RBF allocation provided by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
Last updated 11 October 2023 + show all updates
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We have published the guidance and form for relevant institutions to complete and submit their Residential Bursary Fund return for the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
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First published.