new £5000 annual grant is unfair to students currently on NHS degree courses

shelley63

My daughter started her occupational therapy degree course in Sep 2017 and is due to finish in July 2020.  2017 was the first year where the NHS no longer paid the tuition fees.  The government has announced that in Sep 2020, students studying for NHS degrees eg nurses, occupational therapists etc will be given an annual grant of £5000 ie they do not have to pay this back.  This means my daughter will also miss out on the £15000 grant (£5000 for each year).  This seems grossly unfair.  Does anyone know if any provisions have been made for those affected students like my daughter? Advice on how/who to complain to would be welcome.

Ed-1

As with all changes of government, policies change from time to time and there's all manner of winners and losers. It's impossible to win them all in terms of timing but you've just got to hope that you win more than you lose. I'm sure your daughter will benefit from some government policy in the future where others before her didn't.

To be fair to the Johnson government, they're not just making the new grant available to new starters but also for those continuing on courses next year.

Socajam

If only your daughter had the foresight to postpone her course until the Johnson Government  decided to award this grant, then she would have been lucky to have received this extra money.
In life there are going to winners and losers.  As Ed-1 said your daughter may benefit from some other government policy in the future where others before her did not.
I hope they do not backdate this grant, as someone who started in 2016, could complain just like you are doing now.

Hasbeen

In Scotland students entering undergraduate course have received £6578 per year since 2009. Then £8100 since 2019 increasing to £10000 in 2020 https://www.nursinginpractice.com/scottish-government-increases-nhs-bursary-student-nurses
Does that mean that some who lost out and completed before 2019 should get backdated? The answer is no. Policies do change.