UK Offers £5,000 Grants for New Paramedic Students

Author: Department of Health and Social Care
Published: 2020/01/21 - Updated: 2025/09/27
Publication Details: Peer-Reviewed, Informative
Category Topic: UK Disability Employment - Academic Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates

Synopsis: This report details a significant UK government initiative announced in December 2019 that provides financial support for healthcare students, marking the first time paramedic students receive additional NHS funding while at university. The program offers a £5,000 annual maintenance grant that students don't need to repay, plus potential additional payments up to £3,000 yearly for childcare costs, studying in recruitment-struggling regions, or pursuing shortage specialisms like learning disability nursing and radiography.

This authoritative information comes directly from the UK Department of Health and Social Care and represents official government policy, making it particularly valuable for individuals with disabilities, seniors, and their families who may be considering healthcare careers or seeking to understand the government's commitment to expanding the healthcare workforce that serves vulnerable populations - Disabled World (DW).

Introduction

Paramedic students will get £5,000 support payment each year. Students studying to become paramedics, radiographers and physiotherapists will be among those receiving the new financial support from September 2020. They will not need to pay it back.

Main Content

This is the first time paramedic students will benefit from additional NHS funding while at university. The funding will be provided on top of existing support, including student loans. The full list of new and continuing students set to benefit from the funding is as follows:

• Dietetics
• Dental hygiene or dental therapy (level 5 courses)
• Midwifery
• Nursing (adult, child, mental health, learning disability, joint nursing/social work)
• Occupational therapy
• Operating department practitioner (level 5 courses)
• Orthoptics
• Orthotics and prosthetics
• Paramedicine
• Physiotherapy
• Podiatry or chiropody
• Radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)
• Speech and language therapy

The government first announced the new funding in December. It said that all new and continuing nursing, midwifery students and many allied health students on pre-registration courses at English universities will receive a £5,000 maintenance grant each year. They will not need to pay it back.

Extra payments worth up to £3,000 per academic year will be available for eligible students. Each year they could receive:

• £1,000 towards childcare costs
• £1,000 if studying in a region that is struggling to recruit
• £1,000 if they're a new student studying a shortage specialism important to delivering the NHS Long Term Plan

The shortage specialisms have been confirmed as:

• Mental health nursing
• Learning disability nursing
• Radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)
• Prosthetics and orthotics
• Orthoptics and podiatry

The government expects the £5,000 maintenance grants to benefit around 100,000 pre-registration nursing, midwifery and allied health degree students every year.

It comes as part of the government's manifesto commitment to increase nurse numbers by 50,000 by 2025.

Minister for Public Health Jo Churchill said:

"From paramedics to physiotherapists, radiographers to speech and language therapists, our talented allied health professionals are the third largest workforce in the NHS and support people to live better lives. As demand grows, we need more of the best and brightest to join our NHS. I want those who would relish the job of saving people's lives as a paramedic or diagnosing cancer as a radiographer to come forward to train, taking advantage of this fantastic new £5,000 support package."

Minister for Care Caroline Dinenage said:

"We want to support people with learning disabilities to live full, healthy and happy lives. The expertise of learning disability nurses is essential as they provide tailored care that can help people become more independent. In the years to come we're going to need more learning disability nurses to provide high-quality care, so I'm delighted that from September all new students will receive at least £6,000 a year to help with their cost of living. I want to see more people considering a career in learning disability nursing, helping to achieve our NHS Long Term Plan ambition to improve care for people with learning disabilities."

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Attribution/Source(s): This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Department of Health and Social Care and published on 2020/01/21, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.