Learner Support Fund

16-18 (Apprentices are not eligible for LSF)

Household income below £30,250 or Parent / Guardian claiming a qualifying benefit.

Vulnerable Bursary (VB) – In Care / Care Leaver or living independently and in receipt of Universal Credit.

19+ 

Living independently and earning below £24,455 or claiming a qualifying benefit.

Household income below £32,000 or claiming a qualifying benefit.

If student is living with a Parent/Guardian and are financially dependent on them they must provide evidence of their income.

Free College Meals

Parent/Guardian must be in receipt of a qualifying benefit.

You are eligible for a bus ticket if you live over three miles (walking distance) from your college centre and your household earns under the income threshold. If you live under 3 miles from the college but have circumstances which affects your ability to walk to college, please let us know.

If you have been awarded a bus ticket, this will be added directly to your First Bus wallet.

Bus ticket allocation is based on attendance, so if your attendance falls below 85% you will not automatically receive a new ticket. You will need to contact us until your attendance improves.

Annual tickets can be found under Student Travel in the Bristol area.

You must use your student email address when creating your First Bus account. For more information, please refer to your ticket award email.

Each Monday your student card will be updated with your weekly meal allowance.

You will receive £3.50 per day you are timetabled to be in college. This can be spent in the college canteen and vending machines throughout the day.

Any balance remaining on your card at the end of the week will be wiped.

If you are 16-18, or 19-24 with an EHCP and receive support from the Learner Support Fund, you may be eligible for food vouchers to spend during the college holidays.

This can depend on your age and year of education. The vouchers will be emailed to students on the last day of each term.

If you have already purchased equipment needed for your course, or you have paid for a trip, we may be able to provide a refund.

You will need to provide a receipt with proof of cost. We are only able to refund the amount agreed by the area of learning.

No, we cannot backdate payments of any kind.

However, if you receive childcare payments we can back date this from when you started attending your course.

During busy periods, it can take up to 14 working days to process your application. The 14 days start from the date the LSF team receives your form.

As we are a back-office team, it may take a few days for your form to reach us.

If we need more information from you, your application may take longer to process.

Thank you for your patience.

Your application can be declined for a number of reasons.

1. Your household income is over the threshold
2. There are no costs associated with your course
3. You live under 3 miles from your centre of study
4. You do not receive a qualifying benefit
5. You have applied for childcare outside of your college hours
6. You have applied for long distance travel and there is a college offering the same course closer to your home address

If you believe that you have been wrongly declined and have any extenuating circumstances please contact the LSF team or complete an appeal form (Link/available from reception).

Bus ticket M-codes will be sent out on Sunday evenings to be used for the following week. Other travel payments are paid in arrears at the end of each week based on attendance. These are paid by BACS transfer direct to your bank account, this can take up to 5 working days to clear into your bank account.

Course related costs are usually paid direct to your area of learning. In the case we have to pay these costs direct to you, we pay every Friday direct to your bank account, depending on attendance. If you are awaiting a refund for an item you have already purchased, these are also paid on a Friday.

If you receive Childcare or Taxi payments these are paid directly to the organisation who provide these services for you. These are paid monthly in arrears by BACS transfer, based on your college attendance. If you use your Childcare or Taxi services when not attending college you will be liable to pay for these services. We will liase all payments with your childcare/taxi provider.

1. We do not have your bank details or your bank details are incorrect
2. Low attendance (Below 85%)
3. Your application is processed after we complete our payment run for that week
4. We do not pay course associated costs until you have attended 4 weeks minimum
5. Payments can take up to 5 working days to clear into your account
6. We do not make payments during the Christmas, Easter or summer breaks

We aim to keep applications open throughout the academic year but this is budget dependent. We have a limited fund so we always recommend you apply as early as possible.

If you have a late starting course such as January starters, we have a limited budget set aside for this.

If you have forgotten your First Bus log in, or you are having trouble logging into your account you must contact First Bus customer service. The LSF team are unable to access any student login information.

If your bus ticket has left your wallet before it has expired, you must contact First Bus for support.

If you have created a new First Bus account and need your ticket transferred to your wallet, you will need to contact First Bus for Support.

Our application forms are available each year from July, but we cannot process your application until you have enrolled.

We recommend applying early as funds are limited.

We can only provide travel for students who live over 3 miles walking distance from the college. If you have a disability or additional needs which affect your ability to walk this distance, please provide us a doctors letter confirming this or speak with the Additional Learning Support Team.

If you have extenuating circumstances affecting your ability to walk to college, please complete an appeals form explaining your situation.