Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the accessibility of the Government’s free childcare offer to student nurses who are required to work a weekly minimum of 16 hours in the NHS but do not receive a job-related income.

All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education per week, which includes children of parents undertaking full or part time study. This entitlement provides young children with high quality early education and helps to prepare them for school.

Students on a low income, or whose children have special educational needs, may also be eligible for the government’s 15 hours free childcare per week entitlement for disadvantaged two-year-olds. The full criteria for this entitlement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-2-year-olds.

30 hours free childcare is an entitlement for working parents of three and four-year-olds, with the aim of helping working parents with childcare costs so that they can take up paid work or can work additional hours if they want to.

The Childcare Bill policy statement, published in December 2015, sets out that students are not eligible for the government’s 30 hours free childcare entitlement, unless they are in work. Students who undertake paid work in addition to their studies and meet the income requirements will be eligible. To qualify, students do not have to physically work 16 hours a week, but they do need to earn the equivalent of a weekly minimum of 16 hours at national minimum wage or national living wage (currently just over £7,400 a year for parents aged over 23).

With regards to student nurses, the government keeps the funding arrangements for all NHS health professionals’ education under close review, to ensure that students are appropriately supported.

The government has already introduced new maintenance funding for many healthcare courses. In September 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care introduced the new, non-repayable, training grant of at least £5,000 per academic year, for all eligible new and continuing pre-registration nursing, midwifery and most allied health profession students studying at English universities.

There is a further £2,000 available for parental support, available for eligible students attending a full-time pre-registration healthcare course. More information can be found here: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-learning-support-fund/parental-support-formerly-child-dependants-allowance. This grant is in addition to funding provided by the Students Loans Company.

This generous support package enables healthcare students to focus on their studies and placements and contributes to alleviating any financial pressures students might be facing.