Guidance

Residential Bursary Fund data return 2024 to 2025: guidance for completing the digital form

Updated 1 October 2025

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This document sets out how to complete the digital form for Residential Bursary Fund (RBF).

Use this form to report how you used your RBF allocation provided by the Department for Education (DfE) in the academic year 2024 to 2025, from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025.

RBF funding is intended to provide financial help towards accommodation costs of students attending one of the designated institutions delivering specialist provision. RBF is funded by DfE.

This data return will be analysed and used to reconcile RBF funding. We will recover any unspent funds as you are unable to carry these forward to future years.

You can view more detailed information on RBF in the Residential Bursary Fund: 2024 to 2025 guidance.

2. Who is this publication for

This guide is for institutions who received RBF funding in the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

3. When to complete your submission 

The deadline to complete and submit your form is 5pm on Friday 24 October 2025.

Submissions can be amended up until the deadline. It will not be possible to grant any extensions to the deadline.

4. Accessing the form 

Access the RBF 2024 to 2025 data return digital form to complete your return.

4.1 Before you start

Before you start the submission process, please ensure that you have:

• a DfE Sign-in account
• the number of students awarded RBF for each sector subject area (for example, engineering or philosophy)
• the reasons for supporting students in subjects other than designated specialist provision
• the total RBF spent on accommodation support
• the number of students awarded RBF living in term-time lodgings off campus
• the RBF spent on any off-site travel costs and the number of students receiving RBF for travel costs
• the total spent on administering the RBF
• reasons for any overspend

4.2 DfE Sign-in

Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account

Follow the steps below to access your DfE Sign-in account:

1. Access the RBF data collection digital online form . When prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (your account email address and password) for authentication.

2. If multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled on your account, you will need to enter a verification code to login. To send the verification email with code you need to click on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity page’ you were directed to after entering your email and password.

3. After clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ you will progress to the next page ‘Enter code’. Copy the code from the verification email and paste it into the box. Then select ‘Verify’.

4. Choose the organisation you are completing the form for – this is only required if your account is linked to several organisations.

5. The next page will display the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address and unique identifier of the organisation, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into the form.

6. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to go to the next page.

7. If you believe these details are incorrect, contact us via the Customer Help Portal and we will investigate. However, you can still proceed with your submission.

To complete the form, your DfE Sign-in account must be connected to the organisation you are completing the form for. You do not need to add any services in DfE Sign-in; it is used only for authentication.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you will need to create one by completing steps 1 to 7 below:

1. Access DfE Sign-in page and select ‘Create a DfE Sign-in account’.

2. Enter your email address. You must use a valid business email address that contains your name – we are unable to accept generic emails, such as ‘admin’ or ‘info’. You are also unable to use a personal email address.

3. We will send you an email to verify your email address; copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page. 

4. Create a memorable password that is a minimum of 8 characters and contains 3 out of: lowercase characters, uppercase characters, numbers, symbols. Enter your given name and surname.

5. Sign in using your new credentials. Request your MFA verification email by clicking on ’Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity’ page.

6. We will send you an MFA email to verify your identity. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

7. Follow the next step instructions outlined in ‘Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account’ section below.

Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account

To add a new organisation to your DfE Sign-in account, follow steps 1 to 6 below:

1. Login to your DfE Sign-in account.

2. Select ‘Organisations’ from the tab at the top of the page.

3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’ from the ‘Related actions’ on the righthand side of the page.

4. Enter the name of the organisation you wish to add.

5. Select the organisation.

6. Select ‘Confirm’.

Your request will be sent to an approver within your organisations. If you do not already have an approver your request will be actioned by the DfE Sign-in support team.

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under ’Already have a DfE account’ section to complete the form.

You may have noticed the term ‘approver’ when setting up your account. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually a senior person, such as a manager. For security reasons, you will need authorisation from one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form.

4.3  If you need further assistance

If you need help with DfE Sign-in, use our DfE Sign-in help service where you will be able to request further assistance. When raising a support request, select ‘Other.’

If you are having problems accessing the form(s), you can contact us via our Customer Help Portal.

5.  Completing the form

Access the residential bursary fund data return digital form and select ‘Start now’. When authenticated through DfE sign-in, you will find a ‘Save and continue’ button on each page of the form. If you sign out of the form, or leave it opened for an extended period before submitting it, you can resume your submission when you sign back in.

Once you have submitted your form, you will be advised of the next steps and will receive an email confirmation of your submission with a link to download a PDF copy of your submission. This link will expire after 6 months, so we recommend you download a copy as soon as possible.

You can edit and resubmit your form until the submission deadline. 

Further details on how to complete the form are outlined below.

Selecting ‘Save and continue’ on each page will take you through the form.

You must click ‘Submit’ on the final form page to send your completed data return to us.

5.1  Your details

We will show details of  the information we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed into your DfE Sign-in account. 

5.2 Your RBF funding for the 2024 to 2025 academic year

This read-only page shows your RBF funding for the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

If you have any questions about your allocated funding, you can contact us via the Customer Help Portal.  You can still continue to complete your data return.

5.3 Sector subject area

RBF is intended to support students who are participating in a designated sector subject area.

To help us monitor the use of RBF and to ensure it is in line with the policy intention, you should complete all that apply to provide data on the number of students receiving RBF in each of the individualised learner record tier 2 subject area.

Only count students that received RBF from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025 (inclusive).

Your answer must be based on the core subject aim the student is enrolled on, and the reason why they were awarded RBF.

Enter zero (0) where there were no students supported in a subject area.

5.4 Accommodation support

Enter your total RBF amount spent on student accommodation support from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. 

Enter zero (0) where there was no spend on accommodation support.

5.5 Off-campus RBF supported students  

If you indicate that all, or some of your RBF supported students were living off-campus, then you will be asked to confirm the total number of students that lived off-campus and the amount spent on travel costs to and from off-campus accommodation.

5.6 Travel costs for off-campus accommodation

If you indicate that all, or some of your RBF supported students were living off-campus that received RBF for travel costs, then you will be asked questions relating to these travel costs. Questions include the number of RBF students living off-campus, and travel costs to and from off-site accommodation.

5.7 Administration spend

Enter the amount you have spent on administration of RBF from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. We expect a value no greater than 5% of your total RBF allocation.

5.8 Total RBF spend

This read only page will show your total RBF expenditure in the 2024 to 2025 academic year. This is a combination of your input of accommodation support spend, travel costs, and administration costs.

If your spend exceeds your allocation, you will be asked to explain the reasons.

5.9 Declarations page

Once you have completed all relevant data entries you must complete all mandatory declarations. You will not be able to submit your form without fully completing this section. You will need to tick each statement box to confirm your agreement. 

5.10 Submission summary

The summary page allows you to check your answers before submitting your form.  You can change your answers using the ‘Change’ link that appears next to each data entry.

You can also save this summary,  by selecting ‘Save summary as PDF’ before you submit.

We are unable to accept a PDF summary of your answers as proof of submission. You must select ‘Submit’ at the bottom of this page and you will receive a unique reference number for your submission to be processed. 

5.11  Confirmation 

The final page confirms your form has been successfully submitted. You will receive a unique reference number, followed by an explanation of what happens next.

You will also receive an email confirming successful submission of your claim. This email contains a link to download a PDF of your submission, which is valid for 6 months from the date of your submission.

It is important that you make a note of your unique reference number, as we will not include this information in your confirmation email.

5.12  Amending your submission

You can make changes to the form and resubmit until 5pm on Friday 24 October 2025 . To do this, you will need to sign back in to access your form, make your amends and resubmit it. 

You will be unable to amend your data after the submission deadline. We will use your most recent submission to calculate your recovery amount and disregard all previous submissions.

You will receive a new unique submission reference for all amended submission(s).

6. Enquiries 

If you have read this guidance and have any questions, you can contact us via the Customer Help Portal.

7. Feedback

We are committed to enhancing our user experience and improving our digital forms.  We, therefore welcome and encourage your user feedback.