Is your child eligible for the Govt 16-19 Bursary?

[zebrafinch]

Google "16-19 Bursary 2012" and you will find details of the education bursary for sixthformers. There is a mandatory bursary of £1200 for certain limited categories of children with disabilities (e.g. child in care (and technically if your child goes over a certain number of respite nights per year they could have this status) , or on DLA and ESA..) There is a discretionary bursary for others. It is paid out to the child by the education provider and they should send you information on it at the start of the academic term. Essentially it replaces the old EMA for certain groups of students. If you are struggling to pay transport fees post 16 or for special educational trips for your child etc etc then this could be a pot of money you could access. There is a useful guidance document produced by the government online which explains it. My experience last year was that the school had no knowledge of it.

Will try to do a link here
www.education.gov.uk/publications/.../EFA-00062-2012

Apologies, still learning how do do the link, just google as before, there may be info also on your local authority website

We got this last year for DD after we (and a couple of other parents) pointed out to the SEN school that our DCs were entitled to the Guaranteed Bursary.
DD only got it because she gets both DLA AND Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). In order to get ESA, we had to give up Child Benefit/tax credits and get her to claim benefits in her own right, rather than us claiming for her as a child. You need a 'Better Off assessment" carried out by a benefits advisor to see if it worth sticking to claiming for them as a child until they leave full time education, or if your DC should claim as an adult in their own right.. You don't qualify just by being in receipt of DLA.
At DD's school. I don't think much was give out under the discretionary bursary scheme, as our LA don't charge for transport to special schools - yet, and there are limited expenses are regards books, equipment etc.

Re Zebrafinches point re overnight respiite = looked after status, I think this used to be the case, but I think the guidlines changed last yr/yr before as I know a number of families whose child went to LA funded overnight respite who were losing their social worker as a result of this change. The term looked - after now only applies to those actually 'in-care' i think.

Link to guidlines for last years scheme here:

readingroom.ypla.gov.uk/ypla/ypla-16-19_bursary_fund_provider_qa-br-sep11-v7.pdf

My understanding is that your child will still qualify if they accumulate a certain number of nights per year in respite accommodation paid for by the LA. The child does not have a care order and the child is placed voluntarily by the parents because of high care needs. It is voluntary accommodation under section 20 of the Childrens Act. For example I think the child would qualify if sleeps at home most nights but regularly stays in respite 2 nights a week and is not a boarder.I am unsure of the actual number of nights that cross the threshold. Can someone help us here?

Good point bigbluebus about getting a benefit check to see whether the family would be better off claiming Child benefit/tax credits rather than teenager claiming ESA. Interesting ,that you like me had to point out to the school the existence of this bursary scheme.

Part of the May 2012 guidance for the 16-19 Bursary for this school year says it is good practice for the education provider to have some documentation to give to parents about how to apply, how to complain etc. We never saw any of this. Even if you think your child may not qualify for the mandatory award at least ask for this information at the beginning of term so you can see the provider's policy on discretionary awards. If you think your child may be eligible for the mandatory award, the education provider has to write to the local authority for confirmation of your child's status and this will get the ball rolling.