NHS Business Services Authority (Student Bursaries)

3. Mr S complains that NHS BSA declined his application for funding for the 2024/25 academic year.

4. He says this has caused him financial difficulties and he would like NHS BSA to pay him the funding he believes he is entitled to.

5. Mr S started an Adult Nursing degree in the 2024/25 academic year. In November 2024 he applied for funding from the NHS’ Learning Support Fund (LSF). The LSF provides funding on top of mainstream student loans to eligible healthcare students.

6. NHS BSA declined his application in April 2025, telling Mr S he had not applied within the timescale for doing so. Mr S asked it to review its decision later in April and, in May, it maintained this.

7. As Mr S remained unhappy with this decision, he appealed it via the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The DHSC is the government body responsible for the LSF. It considered Mr S’ appeal and, in June, it maintained NHS BSA’s decision. DHSC explained that Mr S’ application was made outside the time limit for this although it recognised that part of the delay was because he needed to obtain and submit information from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). Aside from this, DHSC explained that Mr S did not meet the eligibility criteria to receive LSF in any case.

8. DHSC maintained its position throughout the complaint process.

11. When we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the event(s) complained about had a negative effect which the organisation has not put right. Having done so we have not found any indication that these issues had a negative impact on Mr S.

12. Section 1.4(b) of the DHCS Guidance says that students must apply for the LSF ‘no later than six calendar months after the start of their active study in that academic year’. Mr S applied in November 2024, two months after the start of the academic year. It would therefore appear that he did apply within the specified timescale.

13. NHS BSA rejected Mr S’ application in April 2025 stating that it was received outside the six-month window. When he appealed this, it went on to explain that the deadline was March 2025 (six months after September 2024) and that it had asked him in both November 2024 and February 2025 to send in a copy of his student finance award letter for the 2024/25 year. NHS BSA says it reminded Mr S of the six-month deadline at this point and referred to the ‘rules’ which state that ‘all applications and supporting evidence must be received within 6 months of the start of the academic year being applied for’.

14. The ‘rules’ refers to the DHSC Guidance. We have not been able to identify where it states within this guidance that supporting evidence must be received within the six-month period. We have only seen a requirement for the application to be submitted.

15. This is an indication that NHS BSA has not communicated with Mr S in line with our Principles of Good Administration. These state public bodies should communicate effectively and ensure customers are clear about their entitlements.

16. Mr S says he has been financially impacted by NHS BSA’s decision and would like the funding to be paid to him. While there may be some reason to dispute what NHS BSA has said at this point, we are satisfied that this did not have any negative impact on Mr S’ overall situation. This is because, after he complained about NHS BSA’s decision to the DHSC, it explained that he was not eligible for the LSF in any case. This meant that whether his application was in time or not, it would not have been successful.

17. Section 2.4(a) of the DHCS Guidance explains that to qualify for any element of the LSF, students must be ‘eligible for available loans for both tuition fees and maintenance support from the Student Loans Company’. Mr S had sent information from both SAAS and the Student Loans Company which stated that he was not eligible to receive full loan support during 2024/25. Because of this, the DHSC correctly told Mr S that he was not eligible to apply for the LSF.

18. We can see that Mr S disputed his entitlement to full loan support. This is not something we will consider within this case, as we are only looking at NHS BSA’s actions. Decisions SAAS and the Student Loans Company make are done so independently of NHS BSA.

19. When Mr S told the DHSC about his dispute, it gave him additional time to demonstrate he was eligible for full loan support. We welcome this action and think it shows a willingness to ensure it made the right decision about Mr S’ entitlement to the LSF.

20. NHS BSA says it has not had any further contact from Mr S about the 2024/25 LSF application. The additional time it provided (until the end of July 2025) has now elapsed.

21. We recognise that Mr S is unhappy with NHS BSA’s decision not to pay him the LSF for the 2024/25 academic year. While its initial reason for this (being out of time) may not be in line with the available guidance, the reason the DHSC gave for rejecting the application (not being in receipt of full loan support) is. This means the outcome remains the same and Mr S is not eligible for the funding. This means there is no impact from any potential error NHS BSA might have made in respect of the timescale.

22. For this reason, we will not consider the complaint further.

1. We have carefully considered Mr S’ complaint about NSA BSA. We are sorry to hear about the upset he has experienced in his application for student funding being rejected.

2. We think that, while it might have made an error in telling Mr S that his application was made too late, this did not affect its decision not to provide funding. This is because he was not eligible to apply for the funding in the first instance. Therefore, while we recognise his frustration, we will not consider it further as there are no indications Mr S was impacted by the initial error.