The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund: Why you need to use it or risk losing it

The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund provides financial support to help students overcome the specific financial barriers to participation they face so they can remain in education. In this two-part article, Andrew Blench of School Business Partner Limited explains why schools must use it…or lose it

There are 2 types of 16 to 19 bursaries: bursaries for defined vulnerable groups and discretionary bursaries which institutions award using policies they set, in line with these funding rules.

If your institution provides education to students aged between 16 and 19 years it is highly likely that you will have been allocated a sum of money to use to grant bursaries to individual students who face barriers (which other students do not have) to accessing education.

Underspends

16 to 19 Bursary Funds are subject to normal assurance arrangements for 16 to 19 education and training. You are reminded that they cannot carry forward funding for discretionary bursary funding for more than one year. (16 to 19 Bursary Fund Guide 2023 to 2024 Academic Year)

Whilst institutions generally manage to allocate and spend the element of bursary funding for vulnerable groups (care leavers, young people living independently) the allocation and spending of the discretionary element of the post 16 bursary has been more problematical.

Many institutions report that it is difficult to identify eligible students for the discretionary bursary, get them to apply and spend their allocations. They find themselves in the frustrating situation of having to send unspent funds back to the ESFA.

Individual responsibility

In my experience, the use of the discretionary element of the bursary is problematic because it relies upon each individual student taking responsibility for applying for the bursary and spending their allocation. You will see this from the way the guidance from the ESFA is written, referring to ‘the student will…’ rather than putting the parent in the driving seat.

Whilst this is a phase in a young person’s education when we would want them to become more adult and take more personal responsibility, this isn’t a quality which is magically switched on once they leave Year 11. Many young people have limited experience of managing a personal budget and may not know what they will need in the post-16 world.

A non-tailored approach

The other reason it is problematic is that, unlike other grants such as pupil premium, it cannot be spent in a blanket way. All spending must be traced back to an individual student and based upon their individual needs. Although some education institutions do adopt an approach of simply paying a set amount (£1,200) into every eligible student’s bank account this will fall foul of the rules and will be picked up when a specific bursary audit is conducted by the ESFA. This is not an individual approach tailored to individual circumstances and needs.

Now we have identified the challenges, the task becomes one of identifying a new approach. Part of this will be driven by raising awareness, providing information and working effectively with parents, teachers and students. In part two of this article, Andrew identifies some of the strategies that can be adopted to avoid underspending.