To be eligible you need to be:

• Ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first month of the start of your course, with pre-settled status.
• Ordinarily resident in the EEA or Switzerland for three years prior to the commencement of the course.
• Working or self-employed in the UK.

In addition, you must prove one of the following:

• Prior to starting your course, you worked, and you continue to work either full or part-time while studying. The number of hours is not defined, however where only a limited number of hours are worked this may be an indication that the employment activities are purely marginal and ancillary, therefore support would not be offered (around 10 hours minimum per week is usually sufficient).
• You have been working in the UK, stopped when you started your course, but you can demonstrate a link between your previous employment and your studies
• You get a job after you have started your course and continue to work while studying. But remember, you must also have been resident on the first day of the first academic year of the course.

Student Finance will also consider if employment in the UK was taken up solely for the purpose of becoming eligible for student support. If they find this to be the case, they will not pay financial support.

You should download the PN1 form for both fee and living cost support from Student Finance England.

Along with your application, you will need to send Student Finance England your original passport or National Identity Card. You will also need to send evidence to show that you’re employed or self-employed, and a share code will be required to verify your residency status.

If you are employed, you must provide three months of payslips, which includes the following information:

• Your start date in DD/MM/YYYY
• Contracted hours per week
• Hourly rate of pay
• Contract type, e.g. permanent, fixed term, temporary, etc
• Signature of the employer

If you are self-employed, send a photocopy of the following:

• Evidence you’re registered with HMRC, such as a tax return or UTR confirmation letter
• 3 months’ worth of invoices with corresponding bank statements

You will also need to send Student Finance England evidence during the academic year to show that you’re still employed or self-employed. They will contact you when they need this. It’s important that you have a proper contract of employment and are receiving regular official payslips.

Do not work for “cash-in-hand” as you will not be able to provide the necessary evidence. If you don’t provide evidence within 2 weeks of it being requested, a re-assessment will be done to remove all support.