Childcare Funding

Key facts

Number of scholarships: Varies
Value: Various
Opens: 23 September 2024
Deadline: 31 May 2025
Helps with: Childcare

Summary

Full-time eligible students attending the University will be able to apply for assistance with registered childcare costs through the Childcare Fund. To qualify, children must be under 15 years old, or under 17 if they have special educational needs. Childcare Fund awards are granted in addition to any other funding a student receives.

Please ensure you have utilised all funded early learning and childcare (ELC) options, as you must maximise these to be eligible for the Childcare Fund. You can find links in the further information section of this web page to find out what you may be eligible to.

Eligibility

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Eligibility

To be eligible for support from the Childcare Fund for registered childcare, students must be receiving SAAS tuition fees and the full living cost loan, which includes the £2,400 Special Support Loan. This loan is intended to help cover general study, travel, and childcare costs. As a result, £800 (one-third of the Special Support Loan) will be considered when assessing your eligibility for childcare support.

If your childcare expenses are approximately £20 or less per week, you may not be eligible for additional support from the Childcare Fund, as these costs should be manageable through your Special Support Loan.

*Childcare Eligibility at a glance

Domicile/residence	Is UK domiciled and meets residency criteria set out in the Education (Discretionary Funds and FE Bursaries) (Scotland) Determination 2023. Is ordinarily resident in Scotland on the first day of the first academic year of the course, as set out in The Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022 as amended in The Education (Fees and Student Support) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023. (If you meet the residency eligibility to receive a student loan for living costs from SAAS you should meet the criteria for the Childcare Fund)
Eligible Courses	Must be attending an eligible full-time course of study, as defined by SAAS. This includes Postgraduate courses that qualify for tuition fee loan funding from SAAS
Other Support	Must have used full entitlement of all other available support such as student loan and bursaries. Lone parents should also have claimed the Lone Parents Grant from SAAS. All students should have claimed any Child Tax Credits, free nursery places and other support to which they are entitled. Students must meet the eligibility criteria for tuition fee support to be eligible for assistance from the Childcare Fund. RUK students should apply to their funding body for the Childcare Grant. Lone parent students who aren’t eligible for tuition fee support due to previous study are still eligible to the Lone Parent Childcare Grant.
Other Criteria	Must be paying registered childcare costs. Childcare providers (Nurseries, Child Minders and Nannies that are recruited through agencies that are registered with the Care Inspectorate.) must be registered with the Care Inspectorate.

*Full eligibility can be found in the SAAS Higher Education Childcare Fund Guidance and the University of Strathclyde Childcare Fund Policy.

Subject eligibility

Electronic & electrical engineering, English, Entrepreneurship, History, Human resource management, Law, Marketing, Mathematics & statistics, Mechanical & aerospace engineering, Languages, Naval architecture ocean & marine engineering, Pharmacy & biomedical sciences, Physics, Politics, Psychology, Speech & language therapy, Business, Journalism, Hospitality & tourism, Management, Forensic science, Management science, Social policy, Teaching, Aeronautical engineering, Biochemistry, Biology & biological sciences, Biomedical science, Civil engineering, Data analytics, Environmental engineering, Health, Immunology, International relations, Mechanical engineering, Microbiology, Naval architecture, Ocean engineering, Pharmacology, Product design, Prosthetics & orthotics, Renewable energy, Social work, Software engineering, Sports engineering, Engineering, Science, Marine Engineering, Accounting & finance, Architecture, Biomedical engineering, Chemical engineering, Chemistry, Computer science, Design manufacture & engineering management, Economics, Education, Civil & environmental engineering

Levels eligibility

Undergraduate, Postgraduate Taught

Study modes eligibility

Full Time

Fee Status

Home (Scottish)

Student type

Current student

Further information

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Further information

The University receives an allocation of Childcare Fund from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). SAAS issues guidance on administering the Fund and the University has a policy to best manage local demands. In order to ensure that the Childcare Fund can assist as many students as possible we have a University of Strathclyde Childcare Fund Policy for Childcare Fund applications.

The Childcare Fund is intended to provide a significant contribution to childcare costs, but is not intended to cover the full cost of wraparound, full time childcare.

The Childcare Fund will help students over their academic year:

PGDE 14 August 2024 to 20th December 2024 13th January 2025 until 22nd May 2025
Undergraduate 16th September 2024 to 20th December 2024 13th January 2025 until 23nd May 2025
Postgraduate 16th September 2024 to 20th December 2024 13th January 2025 until 31 July 2025

When assessing your application we will take into account the following:

If eligible, you must be using the free childcare places or equivalent discount to which you are entitled under the Scottish Government’s scheme for 3 and 4 year olds. If you choose to use a provider that does not participate in the scheme, you may not be eligible to the childcare fund.
If you are eligible we expect you to apply for the childcare element of Universal Credits to help with the cost of childcare.
For lone parents, we will also take into account the Lone Parent Childcare Grant which we will assess at the same time as your Childcare Fund application.
We will also take into account the overall cost of your childcare and the cost per hour or session.
We will consider how the childcare applied for relates to your study commitments and personal circumstances.
We will also consider whether anyone who shares caring responsibilities for your child(ren) can provide some of the childcare you need.

Depending on the demand on the Fund, level of awards could change throughout the year.

Your Childcare needs and how we will make payments

We will make an assessment based on your projected Childcare needs and costs for the Semester and will make an award accordingly. We will only reassess your award in the event of a significant change in your circumstances (for example if there was a major change to your timetable that resulted in increased Childcare need).

We will pay the award into your bank account on a monthly basis to allow you to pay the childcare provider(s). Before each payment is made your registration status will be checked to make you are still a registered student. If you finish your course or go into Voluntary Suspension, Academic Suspension your award will stop.

We have an online calculator which can estimate the support you may be eligible to receive from the Childcare Fund. Please note that the calculator will estimate support for the whole academic session.

Lone Parent Childcare Grant if you are a lone parent who has registered childcare costs and have received your Lone Parents Grant from SAAS, you can apply for this supplementary support directly from the University.

Apply

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How to apply

Students have to apply to the childcare fund each semester. The current application is to cover semester 1 childcare. Students who apply for support with semester 1 childcare will be contacted when applications open for semester 2.
You complete the application form and your childcare provider(s) complete Annex A detailing what childcare they have been asked to provide and the cost.

Application and Annex A for semester 1 childcare:

Online Application

Download this, you need it completed to submit with your application -

Annex A for semester 1 - Childcare Funding Semester 1

Annex B for semester 2 - Childcare Funding Semester 2

Funding and Financial Support Privacy Notice