Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Department is taking to support students experiencing financial difficulty who wish to undertake an unpaid placement year at university.

The government recognises that this academic year has been incredibly difficult for students. As a result of these exceptional circumstances, some students are facing financial hardship. Students experiencing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19 or for other reasons should contact their higher education (HE) provider.

We have made an additional £85 million of student hardship funding available to HE providers in the 2020/21 academic year. Providers have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to their students, in a way that best prioritises those in greatest need.

This is in addition to the £256 million of government-funded student premium funding already available to HE providers to draw on towards student hardship funds for the 2020/21 academic year.

We know that not all students will face financial hardship. The current measures aim to target support for students in greatest need and the government continues to monitor the situation to look at what impact this funding is having.

Undergraduate students undertaking work placement years with private employers receive a reduced-rate non-means tested loan for living costs from Student Finance England, on the expectation that the private employer who benefits from the student’s work should provide support for the student rather than the taxpayer.

The government, however, makes an exception for many work placements in the public sector by making available the full-rate partially means-tested loan for living costs package to encourage students to gain work experience in these areas. This ensures that low-income students undertaking working placements in the public sector receive targeted support through the student support system.