An extra £50 million will be dedicated to help tackle the financial issues faced by students during the pandemic, it was announced today (02/02).

Thousands of students will now have access to supplemental funds: Some examples of such uses include the costs of alternative accommodation, extra fees to access online teaching, or employment loss. A statement from the Department of Education explains that they have made this decision due to most Universities conducting teaching remotely this term.

The news that the Government will extend financial support follows the call of a cross-party group of MPs to more than double the existing fund of £256 million. MPs, including Labour MP for Cambridge Daniel Zeichner, urged the Government to follow in the footsteps of Welsh and Scottish authorities, who have respectively increased student hardship budgets by £40m and £30m.

The additional funds will be distributed directly to Universities, which have been identified as the best authorities to assess local student hardship, meaning that students will be able to access this financial support through speaking to their higher education provider.

Minister for Universities Michelle Donelan said in a government blog post: “The additional £50 million that we are announcing today will mean we have distributed £70m for hardship in this financial year alone – on top of the £256m of government-funded student premium which universities can use for student support this academic year."

She continued: "This additional support will provide real, tangible help for those students struggling financially as a result of the pandemic.”

Included in the announcement of this additional hardship fund was encouragement on the part of the Government, for accommodation providers to offer partial refunds to students who cannot utilise their residences due to lockdown. But they do not intend to push smaller, private landlords to provide rebates, due to the fact this may not be financially possible in individual cases.