Nursing bursary: how the new student nurse grants compare to before they were abolished by the last Tory government Before the bursaries were scrapped in 2017, student nurses also had their tuition fees reimbursed, but this benefit is not being reinstated

Student nurses are to receive bursaries again, following a controversial decision by the Conservatives in 2017 to scrap grants in place of loans.

The decision to remove bursaries has been widely condemned by those in the profession, with the Royal College of Nursing saying that between the policy being implemented in June 2016 and February this year nursing degree applications in England fell by 13,000.

The return of the payments of up to £8,000 a year was one of the central promises of the Tory manifesto concerning the NHS, alongside the party pledges to introduce 50,000 additional nurses into NHS England. It was later established that 19,000 of these positions would come from retention of existing nurses rather than new recruits, however.

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The full £8,000 is not available for each student however – £5,000 is available to all from September next year and a further £3,000 is for nurses in specialist disciplines such as mental health, an area that is harder to recruit for.

Comparison to previous scheme

Before the grants were abolished, nursing and midwifery students could apply for non-repayable bursaries of up to £4,191, of which £1,000 was not means-tested.

This was on top of having their tuition fees paid for by Health Education England, which amounted to £9,000, with other loans of up to £3,263 available for students depending on whether they lived in London and away from home. In addition, loans of up to £1,008 were also available.

Having the previous bursary given to students on top of their pre-paid tuition fees meant the grant money could be used as a resource for living expenses.

Under the new bursary scheme students will not be means tested and will be able to claim the full £5,000 – a higher bursary in principle than previously offered – but by having to pay their tuition fees they will still be left with with £21,000 of debt if they choose to use the money solely for living costs.

Barries for entering nursing ‘must be removed’

Those within the nursing profession welcomed the change but said there was more to be done.

Royal College of Nursing general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair welcomed the grant as “a first victory for the campaign that our student nurses are running”.

“This announcement will hopefully encourage more people to apply to a nursing degree by the mid-January deadline,” she added.

“In the run up to the Budget, we continue to call for our students to not pay tuition fees up front. Any barriers for people wanting to enter nursing must be removed.

At the same time as the changes to student nursing bursaries, the Government confirmed it was pressing on with its review of the NHS pensions issue which lead some senior doctors to turn down extra shifts because they were being hit by hefty tax bills.

NHS England has previously announced special arrangements for 2019/20, meaning no doctor in England will be worse off as a result of taking on extra shifts this winter.

Mr Johnson said: “I have heard loud and clear that the priority of the British people is to focus on the NHS – and to make sure this treasured institution has everything it needs to deliver world-class care.

“There can be no doubting our commitment to the NHS and over the coming months we will bring forward further proposals to transform this great country.”

Additional reporting from Press Association.