Guidance

Turing Scheme: guidance for further education providers, 2026 to 2027

Published 20 January 2026

Provider eligibility

Further education (FE) and training providers can apply for Turing Scheme funding.

Eligible FE and training providers include:

• colleges
• schools with sixth forms who are only sending sixth form students on placements
• sixth form colleges
• special post-16 institutions
• apprenticeship training providers
• other types of FE and training providers who meet the criteria

To be eligible to apply, FE and training providers must:

• be registered or recognised as operating in the UK or a British overseas territory
• receive funding from the UK government, a devolved government, local authority or the government of a British overseas territory to deliver the main programme of education or training to the student taking part in a placement

The student should be undertaking a programme of education or training delivered by the provider making the application for Turing Scheme funding. The placement abroad should complement that programme of education or training. Delivery of Turing Scheme placements alone is not sufficient to meet these criteria.

You can only make one application for funding to the FE funding stream. This should include all of your intended Turing Scheme placements which are eligible for FE Turing Scheme funding. 

For academic year 2026 to 2027, schools with an embedded sixth form can apply to the schools funding stream for projects that will provide placements for a mix of sixth form and younger school year groups.

If a placement within your project involves only sixth form students, you must apply to the FE funding stream for that placement. This means you may have to make an application to the schools funding stream and FE funding stream for the same project. Applications to the schools stream for projects that involve placements for only sixth form students will be rejected in their entirety. You’ll need to submit a new application to the FE funding stream and if appropriate, the schools funding stream. We cannot accept late applications after the deadline.

In Scotland, as there is no distinct sixth form stage, schools can apply to the schools stream for all students.

If an FE and training provider wishes to send HE-level students on placements, they should submit a separate application to the HE funding stream for those HE students.

Using the services of external organisations  

FE and training providers can pay for the services of third party organisations, using organisational support funding, to help administer Turing Scheme placements.

These organisations may not be eligible to apply to the scheme themselves.

You cannot use Turing Scheme funding to pay an external organisation to make an application on your behalf.

You should include the names of these organisations in your application.

For academic year 2026 to 2027, you will also need to tell us how you will ensure cost effectiveness. This includes justifying subcontractor use.

Consortium partnerships

FE and training providers may partner with each other and apply for funding as a consortium.

The lead consortium coordinator:

• must submit the application
• agrees to act as the signatory of a grant funding agreement

A lead consortium coordinator must be based in the UK or British overseas territory and can be:

• an eligible FE and training provider
• eligible education providers in higher education (HE) or schools who can apply for FE funding on behalf of a consortium of FE and training providers
• a multi-academy trust, on behalf of its academies and on behalf of a wider group of FE and training providers
• a local authority, on behalf of a group of schools
• an executive government agency
• a registered non-profit, membership organisation that represents eligible FE and training providers

Organisations who are applying as a registered non-profit membership organisation must be able to provide evidence, if requested, that at the time of applying:

• you are registered as a non-profit on sources such as the Register of Charities, Companies House or the equivalent within your devolved government or British overseas territory, or can provide articles of association which demonstrate non-profit status
• you are a representative body for members
• you interact with the wider education sector or with government to advocate for their members – for purposes other than applying for the Turing Scheme

The same student eligibility rules apply to consortiums as to providers applying on their own. A school with an embedded sixth form has the option to be part of a consortium application to the schools funding stream for any placements which involve a mixture of sixth form students and younger students. This does not apply to schools in Scotland as there is no distinct sixth form stage.

If the project will provide placements for sixth form students only, the provider can only be part of an FE consortium application to the FE funding stream. Any consortium members who are not acting as coordinators should be FE and training providers that are taking part in the scheme.

You will need to name all member organisations of the consortium in your application.

Who can go on placements

To take part in an FE placement, students and apprentices must be either:

• studying with the FE provider which sends them, on recognised UK FE qualifications or courses or British overseas territory equivalent
• a recent graduate or leaver of the FE provider which sends them on the placement

Students and apprentices do not need to be UK nationals.

Students and apprentices are not eligible if they are either:

• located overseas and studying UK qualifications remotely
• based at a campus that is not in the UK or a British overseas territory

There is no maximum age limit to participate in the scheme.

Sixth form students at a school with an embedded sixth form can attend a placement funded through the schools funding stream but only when the trip also includes students from younger year groups. If a placement only includes sixth form students, the student or apprentice can only be funded through the FE funding stream. This does not apply in Scotland.   

Students and apprentices who are not Turing Scheme-funded are not prohibited from taking part in the same placement as those who are in receipt of Turing Scheme funding.

Providers should apply for funding under the HE stream for students who are studying courses that are eligible for student finance support. Students do not need to meet student finance eligibility criteria to access Turing Scheme funding.

Recent graduates or leavers must complete their placement within 12 months of completing their qualification with their education provider. They do not need to be selected for Turing Scheme funding before they graduate.

We fund staff accompanying FE students and apprentices on placements for safeguarding purposes, where required. You will be asked to set out the number of accompanying staff required for your placements in your application. The student to staff ratio should be proportionate to the numbers and ages of students and apprentices going on the placement and based on a risk assessment. 

When assessing your application, we may ask you for more information about why accompanying adults are needed, when students and apprentices are aged over 18.

Accompanying staff are subject to the same requirements of placement length as students and apprentices. If you wish to swap one staff member for another part way through a placement, you can, but funding can only be claimed for the equivalent of one staff member.

For example, if during a 14-day placement, a member of staff needs to be switched after 7 days, a provider will receive one travel grant (to support one outbound and one return journey), and cost of living funding for 14 days in total.

Placements

Students and apprentices can take study, work or volunteering placements that help them to enhance their transferable skills for life and their future careers and widen their opportunities. The placement activities must be directly connected to the course of study they are already undertaking with the education provider.

They must take place during an academic year, between 1 September 2026 and 31 August 2027.

Placements in destinations with different academic periods or term dates may begin outside these dates, but most of the placement must be within the date range.

We will only provide funding for the part of the placement taking place during the academic year. However, students and apprentices can receive funding for travel to the placement outside of these dates if they need to travel before the UK academic year begins.

Length of placements

Students and apprentices can:

• study, do work experience or volunteer for between 14 days and 12 months as part of an individual or group placement
• attend WorldSkills events as a spectator only, or can attend non-World Skills competitions as spectator or participant with no minimum duration for skills competition attendance

Recent graduates or leavers can do work experience or volunteer for between 14 days and 12 months as part of a group or individual placement.

On placements that last the minimum 14 days, there must be at least 10 work or study days.

Placement durations may include weekends and national holidays, as well as days spent on the outbound journey to the placement destination from the UK and the return journey.

Individual placements are placements that a student or apprentice does on their own, independently of other students, apprentices or staff members. 

Placements outside Europe, except skills competition placements, must last a minimum of 15 days.

Students and apprentices with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can go on placements for 7 days.

Where students and apprentices can go

FE and training providers in the UK can send students and apprentices to public or private organisations outside the UK which are active in education, training, or the labour market.

Organisations can be:

• an FE provider
• small, medium or large enterprises, including social enterprises
• local, regional or national public bodies
• social partners or other representatives of working life, including chambers of commerce, craft, professional associations, trade unions and research institutes
• foundations
• schools, institutes or educational centres at any stage, from primary to secondary education, including vocational and adult education
• non-profit organisations, associations and non-government organisations
• bodies providing career guidance, professional counselling or information services

Providers in British overseas territories can send students and apprentices to equivalent organisations outside of their overseas territory.

Placements can take place in any destination or territory, but you must follow official foreign travel advice. When planning your placements you should consider whether this advice is likely to change.

From academic year 2026 to 2027, providers must explain in their application why they have chosen their destination(s). Their explanation must cover student outcomes, strengthening international partnerships, value for money and environmental impact.

Providers can apply on the basis of provisionally planned placements, where host organisations may not be fully confirmed.

In some cases, placement destinations may need to change after you are awarded funding. However, we expect you to deliver the aims and intent set out in your application, including the proportion of placements for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Where this is not possible, we will expect you to tell us why. We also expect you to prioritise placements for students with SEND, additional learning needs (ALN) and additional support needs (ASN). We may withhold funding and ask you to resubmit your plan if we consider that you have not made appropriate efforts to deliver the intent set out in the application.

Turing Scheme funding cannot be used towards the activities of Confucius Institutes.

Funding

Turing Scheme funding is a contribution toward the costs of international educational and training placements. In most cases, it is provided on a per-student basis.

You should not use Turing Scheme funding towards any costs that are already covered by another source of funding.

How funding will be allocated

FE and training providers can receive funding up to £205,000 for a single application.

Providers applying in a consortium can receive up to £205,000 per FE provider in the consortium up to a limit of £600,000. Providers should not apply for more than this amount.

FE applications will be assessed by an independent assessor. The Department for Education (DfE) will then rank providers applications using a weighted combination of their assessment score and the relative proportion of placements they intend to fund for students and apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Providers with a high application score and a high proportion of disadvantaged students are most likely to be successful in securing funding. We assess that this will be the fairest way of allocating funding by prioritising high quality applications with the highest proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

If providers have received Turing Scheme funding in previous years, we may also consider whether the provider has persistently underspent their previously allocated funding. This may be taken into account when DfE ranks the applications and affect the likelihood of being awarded Turing Scheme funding, or how much the applicant is awarded.

The highest ranking applications will be funded, up to the values set out above, until the full available budget is allocated. Wherever possible, we will allocate providers the full amount they have requested, within the limits set out above. This will make it easier for providers to deliver all the placements they apply for. Successful providers must deliver placements for the proportion of disadvantaged students they set out in the application as a condition of the Grant Funding Agreement.

You should not use Turing Scheme funding towards any costs that are already covered by another source of funding, including from:

• a local authority
• student finance
• a devolved government

Travel funding

DfE will provide funding toward the direct costs of travel to and from a placement.

FE students, apprentices and accompanying staff can get funding for travel costs, for one return journey between the UK or British overseas territory the provider is in and the destination of the placement, including transfers.

We will provide funding for each student or apprentice, based on a travel grant rate for each destination. There is a list of destinations and grant rates.

If the cost of travel is below the suggested rate, you can use the difference for travel costs in other placements.

Students can determine the best way to make their journey including any stopovers, but they can only receive travel funding for up to the grant rate for the placement destination.

We may request evidence of the actual travel costs.

You must:

• ensure that total travel costs do not exceed the granted amount
• return any travel funding that is not spent on eligible travel activity to DfE

Contribution to living costs

We will provide funding to help with daily living costs for each student or apprentice and accompanying staff members.

The amount each student or apprentice can receive depends on the group the destination is in.

Groups are based on an assessment of the general cost of living in those destinations:

• group 1 – higher cost of living
• group 2 – lower cost of living

There is information on the destinations in each group in the list of destinations and grant rates.

The funding we will provide is:

Placement duration	Group 1	Group 2
First 14 days	£55 per day	£50 per day
After 14 days	£40 per day	£35 per day

Living cost contributions for FE students now match those for school students. Both sectors have similar project durations and expenses.

Extra funding for students and apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds

The Turing Scheme prioritises students and apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds who might face particular challenges meeting the cost of an international placement. 

Students and apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds can receive extra funding for readiness to travel.

We generally define these students and apprentices as people who meet any of the following criteria:

• someone with an annual household income of £35,000 or less
• someone who receives Universal Credit or income-related benefits because they are either financially supporting:
  • themselves
  • themselves and someone who is dependent on them and living with them, such as a child or partner
• someone with experience of being in care or who is a care leaver – including anyone who is or has been in care, or from a looked after background, at any stage of their life
• a carer, meaning anyone who both:
  • looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction, and cannot cope without their support
  • is not paid for this care
• someone entitled to free school meals
• a refugee or an asylum seeker

This list is not exhaustive. You can include students and apprentices who do not meet these criteria but may still share similar characteristics that means they are less able to meet the cost of an international placement.

Students and apprentices who are underrepresented in international placements 

When you apply, we’ll also ask you to set out how you will support students and apprentices from groups that are underrepresented in international study and work placements.  

Underrepresented groups for the scheme include:

• ethnic minorities, including white minorities
• people with SEND, including people with ALN in Wales and people with ASN in Scotland
• part-time students

Part-time students include those recorded as studying: 

• part-time
• full-time on courses lasting less than 24 weeks
• on block release
• during the evenings only

Students or apprentices from underrepresented groups are not automatically eligible for additional funding which is available for students and apprentices with SEND, ALN or ASN or to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Some underrepresented students and apprentices may be eligible for additional funding if they are from a disadvantaged background, meaning they share characteristics that means that they are less able to meet the costs of an international placement.

Readiness to travel funding

We will provide funding to help students and apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds to prepare to travel.

You must only use readiness to travel funding for:

• passports
• visa applications and reasonable associated costs such as translated documents, travel to appointments and police certificates
• vaccines
• travel insurance
• medical certificates

You should apply using estimated costs associated with the items. They will be paid as actual costs rather than at set rates.

You must not use readiness to travel funding to purchase goods or assets such as clothing or luggage.

Extra funding for students and apprentices with SEND

We provide extra funding for students and apprentices if their FE or training provider says they attend as a student with SEND, including ASN in Scotland and ALN in Wales.

You can claim support for additional costs that these students and apprentices may face on international placements as a result of their special educational or additional needs. 

This could include, for example:

• particular accommodation
• extra legroom
• pre-placement visits to the destination by staff to check suitability

These costs must be related to the student’s SEND and necessary to enable the student to take part in the placement.

You must not use SEND funding to purchase goods or assets such as clothing or luggage. You must outline why you need the funds when you apply for the scheme.

You should apply using the estimated costs associated with students with SEND. These will be paid as actual costs, rather than based on set rates.

Organisational support

We will provide funding to support administration and implementation costs.

We will provide £315 per student for the first 100 students, and £180 per student or apprentice after that.

You must only use organisational support funding for:

• direct staffing costs which are proportionate with running placements, including language preparation and student ambassadors involved in the scheme
• costs associated with appointing an external organisation (such as a private company) to administer and implement placements, including language preparation
• external audit fees
• room bookings for preparatory or post-placement events

You cannot use organisational support funding for any other activity, including:

• promoting or marketing the scheme
• appointing an external organisation to write your application
• IT service costs such as licenses, software, or hardware
• contingency funding for other budgets or to cover emergencies
• staff accompanying students and apprentices on placements
• staff or student visits to attend events with current or potential partners inside or outside the UK

You cannot claim organisational support for placements at overseas campuses of your own organisation.

Direct staffing costs may be:

• short-term costs
• entire roles
• proportions of entire roles, for example if the staff member had other responsibilities not associated with running placements

You will need to record the costs incurred for staffing because of running placements directly.

Where any of the eligible organisational support costs are paid directly by students or apprentices, you may give them the money, but you will need to collect receipts.

When you apply, you will need to set out how you will use organisational support funds for your project, including how procurement of external services represents value for money.

You must regularly report how much of this funding you spend and return any unused funds to DfE. 

You should keep evidence of expenditure and be prepared to provide a detailed breakdown on request.

This could include:

• receipts
• quotes
• records of how staff time has been spent

Language support

For FE and training providers, DfE will provide up to £135 per student on placements over 19 days to help them learn the local language at the host organisation. 

Funding may only be used to cover language learning costs, like classroom courses or educational materials, that:

• directly relate to the student’s studies
• are reasonable given the length of the placement

Successful applicants will need to regularly report on what they have spent on language support, with supporting evidence. You must promptly return any unused funds to DfE.