Published: 19/04/2021

HEP bulletin – April 2021


Registrations and Attendance Confirmations

FT Undergraduate Registrations for students on Autumn Start Courses are nearly fully completed at 99.5% confirmed, and Winter Start Courses with 92.1% completed. 

Attendance was confirmed for 98.6% of students on Autumn start courses for Liability period 2, however L1 Attendance Confirmations for students on Winter start courses is currently lower at 86%, this may, of course, include March start courses. 

We ask that you please continue to work through any outstanding Registrations and Attendance Confirmations for Autumn and Winter start courses. Spring Term registration and attendances should be submitted as soon as possible.  

You can see our service standard agreement and the targets you should be working towards under the Our Services menu

You can also view guidance on how to submit registration and attendance confirmations through SIS on our SIS guidance pages.

Negative Attendance and follow up CoCs 

I would like to highlight that when you submit a negative Attendance Code for a student, such as; C, F,N,X or S, you should follow it up as soon as possible with the appropriate CoC. The service standard is to submit 80% of CoCs within 60 days of a non-A code. This allows us to correct the student's account quickly, and avoid overpayments. 

We aim to process CoCs within 20 working days during off-peak processing times. If your CoC has not been processed after 20 days, please contact the Partners Support Desk who will prioritise the processing of your CoC with our assessment department. 

Please ensure that if you are using the bulk CoC import function or submitting CoCs on screen, that you delete any CoCs from your CoC worklist otherwise it appears that you still have work outstanding.

Course collection for AY 2021/22 

Full time undergraduate course collection is now sitting at 95% of expected FT UG courses submitted. Our team is working hard to ensure that validation is completed as quickly as possible. With the student application cycle now open we want to ensure that course details are correct as students begin to apply for funding and reduce the impact of incorrect funding being awarded. 

Course collection for part time undergraduate courses for all domiciles opened on 11 March with a deadline of 16 April. Postgraduate NI courses can also now be updated with the same deadline of 16 April. Postgraduate courses for England and Wales are not yet ready for updating. 

You should take extra care when entering term start and end dates. We have found many cases where Saturday, Sunday or official bank holiday dates have been input by mistake and then need correction. 

You can find more information and guidance about how to submit courses to CMS in our CMS guidance.

Student finance application services open 

We opened the undergraduate application service to English domiciled students on 1 March and the SFNI application service was available on 15 March. 

Applications for undergraduate and postgraduate Scottish students to SAAS opened on 1 April. 

Student finance for EU students after Brexit 

In February the Funding Information Services team held webinars explaining student funding eligibility rules for EU/EEA and Swiss Nationals for AY 2021/22 onwards. The webinar recording, including Q&A sessions and a Q&A booklet are now available. 

You can access these resources on the SFE Practitioners website or the SLC Events website

Migrant Worker - employment checks

For your information, over the last month we have been sending emails, in batches, to students, who fall into the Migrant Worker employment checks category. We have been asking for evidence of their, or their family members continued employment or self-employment. We have asked for evidence covering 1 September to 28 February. Please encourage your students to respond.

COVID funding – NI in recognition of disruption caused by Covid 

It was announced in February by the Department for the Economy NI that almost 40,000 students studying in Northern Ireland will receive a £500 Covid Disruption Payment. Every student from the UK or EU currently enrolled on a full-time higher education course in Northern Ireland will receive the one-off discretionary payment, which is in recognition of the disruption they have suffered because of the pandemic.

COVID funding – SAAS to ensure students can complete their studies 

On 24 March the Scottish Government confirmed a further package of support for students facing uncertainty due to COVID-19, when HE providers need to extend courses and placements to complete their studies. 

Full-time higher education students who find themselves in this position will receive a guaranteed one-off COVID-19 payment of up to £1,600 for additional study of 16 weeks or less. This will be made at £400 per four week period up to a maximum of 16 weeks. Course extension period Amount payable Up to 4 weeks £400 Up to 8 weeks £800 Up to 12 weeks £1,200 Up to 16 weeks £1,600. 

Full-time higher education students who need to complete studies over a longer period (beyond 16 weeks) will continue to receive their standard monthly package of bursary, grant, loan and fees until their extended course date ends. This extension will not impact on the additional year of support available to students, commonly referred to as a +1 year. SAAS Discretionary Hardship Funding also remains available to all students at Scottish providers. Providers should contact SAAS regarding the identification of students entitled to the one-off payment. 

You can find more information on the Student Information Scotland website.


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