We’re really thrilled to hear the news this morning that the Government has decided to re-introduce a bursary for all NHS nursing, midwifery and allied health courses students.

Here at the Students’ Union, we have been campaigning on this issue through our Bring Back the Bursary campaign for a few years now, with a group of students even visiting parliament back in 2015 to lobby MPs.

Nurses work long hours on placements within NHS hospitals and often end up in severe financial hardship in order to train for the careers that are so important to them and our Country. It’s really great news that they will now be entitled to a grant of at least £5,000 per year to support them with some of these costs.

Our Activities Officer, Lucy French, said: “As a nursing student, I found it really difficult to make ends meet. It’s just not as easy for us to get part-time work whilst we’re studying, as we have to go on placements in hospitals across the region. These bursaries don’t go as far as I would like, but will make so much difference, and hopefully see more nurses qualifying as the money worries won’t put people off applying.”

Our Education Officer, Adesewa Adebisi, added: “It’s not just the £5,000 that will benefit nursing, midwifery, and allied health students. The announcement that there will also be additional grants available to help with childcare, or on specialist courses such as mental health nursing, is great news for students here. We are so pleased that the Government has listened to students, and that we have been able to share the  views of Huddersfield students to make these changes.”

New nursing bursaries of £5,000 per student per year, plus up to an additional £3,000 in certain circumstances will be introduced for both new and returning nursing, midwifery, and allied healthcare students from September 2020. You can find out more about the Government announcement here.