Social work bursary allocations revealed

The government has frozen the number and value of social work bursaries available to post- and undergraduate for a fourth consecutive year.

The bursary allocations, published this week, remain at £4,862.50 for undergraduate students in years two and three of full-time study outside of London, and £5,262.50 for those inside the capital.

The basic bursary for full-time postgraduate students will remain at £3,362.50 for those outside London, and £3,762.50 for those inside.

A total of 1,500 postgraduate students starting in 2018 could apply for the bursary, while 2,500 will be available for undergraduates who began in 2017.

While the number of bursaries and value have not risen, the allocations were published considerably earlier than in the past two years, where the government drew criticism from academics and raised concerns the bursary could be scrapped.

The bursary document said some higher education institutes had not used their full allocation in 2017, which was “a concern”, and the government were in discussions with those institutions to understand why.

The full list of allocated bursaries can be viewed here.