Some four-year degree courses involve a UK-based sandwich/placement year in industry which is an assessed part of the course. During that year, your entitlement for SFE funding will change.
The following information applies if you are undertaking a work placement year in 2024/25 and are eligible for Student Finance England funding. It does not apply to ERASMUS or students going to study abroad for a year.
Students in the UK on a Student Visa should contact Student Advice for information about taking a placement year to find out how this affects their visa and read the relevant section later on this page.
This page does not cover funding from Student Finance Northern Ireland, Student Finance Wales or Student Awards Agency for Scotland.
Important: Placements undertaken as part of a course must be formally approved by the University's Placement Team prior to starting. You can find contact details for and more information about the process on our Work Experience and Placements page.
If you receive Student Finance England Loans and Grants
In most cases, students are entitled to receive a reduced rate Maintenance Loan and a Tuition Fee Loan of up to £1,850 for a placement year. This is regardless of whether the placement is paid or unpaid. Exceptions to this are listed below.
The Maintenance Loan
The Maintenance Loan is paid at a reduced rate during a placement year. For the 2024/25 academic year, the maximum loan available is £2,324 if you live at home with your parents and £4,350 if you live away from home while attending a London university. However, you will receive the normal full-time rate of loan if your placement falls into one of the exceptions below.
The Maintenance Grant or Special Support Grant
If you started your degree before September 2016 and normally receive the Maintenance Grant or Special Support Grant you will not be eligible to receive these grants during your placement year unless your placement fits into one of the exceptions below.
Additional grants
If you have children or an adult dependant and normally receive grants for them, e.g. the Parents' Learning Allowance, Childcare Grant and Adult Dependants' Grant, you will not be entitled to receive these during your placement year unless your placement fits into one of the exceptions below.
The Disabled Students' Allowance is also not available during a placement year unless your placement fits into one of the exceptions below, so if you usually receive this, it’s important to ensure you have the necessary equipment in place before you start your placement year and also consider how to manage your placement without this allowance. Contact Disability Learning Support for further advice.
Exceptions
You may be eligible to receive your full amount of Maintenance Loan, (and Maintenance Grant if you started applicable) and where relevant any additional grants, if your placement falls under one of the following:
Unpaid service in a hospital or in a public health service laboratory or with a clinical commissioning group in the UK
Unpaid service with a local authority in the UK acting in the exercise of its functions relating to the care of children and young persons, health or welfare, or with a voluntary organisation providing similar facilities or carrying out activities of a like nature in the UK
Unpaid service with a local authority acting in the exercise of public health functions
Unpaid service in the prison or probation and aftercare service in the UK
Unpaid research in a UK institution or in the case of a student attending an overseas institution as a part of his course in an overseas institution
Unpaid service with a Special Health Authority, the NHS Commissioning Board, the National Institute for Care and Excellence, the Health and Social Care Information Centre, a Local Health Board; a Health Board, Special Health Board or Health and Social Services Board in England or Wales, or their Scottish or Northern Irish equivalents
Unpaid service in the UK Parliament
Tuition fee liability
Please check your tuition fee charge with your Registry Office and the Finance Office. If you are eligible to receive Student Finance England funding and are liable to pay a tuition fee for your placement year, you can apply for a Student Finance Tuition Fee Loan to cover this. Normally, 15% of your annual tuition fee will be charged for the 2024/25 academic year.
If you previously studied at degree at Higher Education level and/or have repeated a year of your current course more than once, your entitlement to receive a Tuition Fee loan will be affected. If this applies to you, please contact Student Advice to discuss your eligibility.
Student Finance England application process
Apply for your Student Finance online in the normal way. Select you are on a ‘Placement in the UK or abroad’. Provide the name and address of your placement, if you do not have these details at the time of applying you can ‘skip this step’, but if you do so you may be paid incorrectly. You must update the address details of your work placement as soon as you have them.
Apply for the relevant amount of Tuition Fee Loan and select if you want to be paid the Maintenance Loan. If you are on an unpaid placement that fits into the ‘Exceptions’ above, you will normally be required to send in evidence of this to receive your full student finance.
If you were originally on a 3 year course and have now transferred to a 4 year course to include the placement year, you must report this in your 2024/25 online application to Student Finance England by stating that you are ‘not on exactly the same course’, filling in the details of the ‘new’ course making it clear that it is a 4 year course and confirming that you will be on a placement in terms 1, 2 and 3. Your Registry will also need to confirm this change of circumstances to Student Finance England.
If you already submitted your online application for Student Finance for 2024/25 and did not report the change of course, you must telephone Student Finance England on 0300 100 0607 and ask for a Change of Circumstances form to be posted or emailed to you. This form is not available online but once a copy has been sent to you, you will also be able to download it in the ‘view correspondence’ section of your online account. You must complete this form and upload it to your Student Finance Online Account or post it back to Student Finance England.
If you have applied for your funding but decide not to take a placement year after all, you and your Registry Office will need to notify Student Finance England of this ‘Change of Circumstances’. Your funding will then be reassessed.
EU Students
If you are an EU/EEA national currently residing in the UK with EU Pre-Settled Status, please contact Student Advice if you are considering undertaking a placement year abroad, as longer absences from the UK may affect your future application for EU Settled Status.
EEA Migrant Workers
If you receive the Maintenance Loan and/or any of the additional grants based on being assessed as an EEA Migrant Worker and you stop your usual work or reduce your weekly hours to undertake your work placement year, your entitlement to continue to receive SFE funding will be affected. SFE will no longer consider you to be an EEA Migrant Worker because the work you do while on your placement will be seen as being a part of your course and ancillary. You can still apply for the SFE EU Tuition Fee Loan as an EEA national and you may be able to resume your Migrant Worker status for the following academic year. Contact Student Advice to discuss further and for advice about switching to an EU loan only for your Placement Year, if required.
Student visas and placements
Please contact Student Advice if you are a student studying at Westminster on a Student visa and are considering undertaking a placement year. There have been important changes to the immigration rules affecting students on a Student visa and undertaking placements. You must get advice from Student Advice at soon as possible if you are considering a placement year. Please ask the Placements Team for the separate information sheet about placements for international students.
Other financial help
If you are normally eligible for full Student Finance England funding (ie maintenance loan and tuition fee loan) you can apply to the university Living Expenses Support Scheme (LESS) during your placement year. Find out more on the LESS webpage.
If you are responsible for a child/ young person, or receive Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment, please contact Student Advice to discuss your state benefit entitlement.
Contact Student Advice if you are on a Student Visa or any other type of visa as you may not be eligible to claim Tax Credits or state benefits and claiming could break your visa conditions.
Other issues
Council Tax
You are still considered to be a full-time student for Council Tax exemption purposes when on a placement year, so you should continue to be eligible for a Council Tax Exemption Certificate letter, available from your Registry Office or Self Service.
Income Tax and National Insurance
You may be paid a salary while on your work placement. Everyone must pay income tax and National Insurance on their earnings once their income goes over the earnings threshold and this applies to you even while you are on your placement year. The basic personal Income Tax allowance is £12,570 for the 2024/25 tax year. If you pay too much tax, you can reclaim this. Visit the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group website for more information.
Please contact Student Advice if you have further questions.