Discretionary Learner Support Funds (FEFS) 2012/13

Basic principles

Exam fees

All learners who receive SFA tuition fee remission will receive automatic remission of their exam fees at point of enrolment.

If a learner has to pay their tuition fees, the exam fees will be included in the tuition fee payment.

Tuition fee support

For learners with a household income of up to £15,000 who do not receive SFA remission of fees, tuition fee support may be available through FEFS - an application will need to be made for this support. This will also include exam fee support for these learners.

Study Award

Any learner with a household income of up to £15,000 can apply for a study award. The study award will be made in four payments, with the first payment being the payment to the college of the exam fee contribution. There will be standard exam fee contributions as follows:

•  Up to (and including) 374 GLH - exam fee contribution= £75

•  Over 374 GLH - exam fee contribution= £150

These figures will be deducted from the Study Award at source and transfered directly to Exams. Those study award recipients who have received automatic exam fee remission will also have this figure deducted from their study award, so the system remains fair and equitable.

The value of the study award will depend on the amount of hours studied and it is proposed that the awards will range in value as follows:

450 glh and over £750 (less £150 exam fee contribution)

375-449 glh £600 (less £150 exam fee contribution)

250-374 glh £375 (less £75 exam fee contribution)

140-249 glh £225 (less £75 exam fee contribution)

The first payment will effectively be the transfer of the exam fee contribution to the exams budget and the remaining study award will then be paid in three equal instalments on 1st Dec, 1st Feb, 1st April. It must be stressed that only the December payment is guaranteed and subsequent payments will depend on funds being available.

All payments to the learners will also be dependent on them having 85% attendance (which does NOT include authorised absences) and this attendance rate will be calculated between payment dates - ie the attendance rate for the planned Feb payment will look at attendance from the end of November through the end of January, etc. This means improved attendance will result in possible future payments.

Childcare

The amount of childcare funds any learner can receive will be capped. If they have one child requiring childcare, the maximum support available will be up to £160 a week (in line with Care2Learn), and if they have any more than one child, the maximum support available will be £255 per week (the same figure as used in HE). This is to ensure that the funds are used to support the maximum number of learners and have the most impact.

NB The maximum cap of £255 per week will not apply to learners continuing on the second year of the same course who received childcare support for the first year of the course.

Chris Hulme

29/06/12