The Vocational Bursary scheme opens on 1 April 2026
Students can apply for a £1,000 per year bursary for their course. Students must have a household income below £30,000 and have a parent or spouse or be employed themselves:
- In the Grocery Industry
- In a Community Pharmacy or as a registered Pharmacist or Pharmacy Technician
- As a Commercial Traveller
How much are the bursaries?
The bursaries are £1,000 per year of your course. The bursary will be paid to the college and then transferred to you in instalments throughout the course.
What can you use a vocational bursary for?
You can use the bursary for any reasonable costs connected with going to college, including travel, equipment, food, and childcare.
Who can apply? – Eligibility
To be eligible to apply, you need to be:
- A student aged 16 and above (adults are eligible)
- Resident in the UK
- The child (including stepchild/under the care of), spouse (including widow), or those themselves who work:
- In the Grocery Industry
- In a Community Pharmacy or as a registered Pharmacist or Pharmacy Technician
- As a Commercial Traveller
- Be currently employed and have worked in this capacity for at least two years.
Before applying, you should check that you are eligible by reading our detailed guidance on eligibility.
Are bursaries paid directly to applicants?
No – if your application is successful, your college will receive the bursary on your behalf, and pass the money on to you via instalments throughout your course.
Please note, as the bursary is administered through your college, we will need the college to agree to work with us and manage the payments to you. If we have not worked with your college before, we will contact them directly once we receive your application to request their agreement. Unfortunately, if a college does not agree to administer the bursary, we may not be able to proceed with your application.
Duration
You can apply for a bursary for each year of your course. Unfortunately, we can’t offer bursaries for previous years of study that you have already completed.
Do you need to re-apply each year?
No, we expect to continue awarding you a grant for as long as your course continues, provided that:
- You continue to study full-time, at the same college, on the same course
- Your college confirms that your academic performance is satisfactory each year
- You progress on to the next year of your course when expected
- There is no significant change in your financial situation
Your college is responsible for sending us this information in a yearly report.
Making an application – Application procedure
To apply, you need to fill in the online application form via our grants management system.
The scheme opens at 9am on Wednesday 1 April 2026 and closes at 5pm on Thursday 30 April 2026, or until the funds have been depleted, whichever is soonest.