Weekend courses FAQ

Q1: Can we have guidance on what proportion of weekday attendance is considered compliant under the Student Support Regulations?

A: This is referenced in the letter from the Department for Education (DfE). For the purposes of the Student Support Regulations, a course is considered “in-attendance” only where students are required to attend on a regular, timetabled, in-person basis during weekdays. To avoid any ambiguity: the DfE normally considers regular weekday attendance to mean at least once per week of required, scheduled attendance for learning or professional practice during Monday to Friday. Requirements to attend solely at weekends, during vacation periods, solely online, or on an occasional basis (including once-termly or fortnightly attendance) do not normally meet the regulatory threshold for in-attendance study. DfE typically considers a course to be full-time where students are engaged in study on most days and for the majority of weeks in the academic year. This will normally involve at least 24 weeks of structured activity and an average workload of around 21 hours per week across term time, including taught sessions, independent study and other forms of learning.

Q2: Could you provide the definition of “in-attendance”?

A: The definition of in-attendance for the purposes of the Student Support Regulations is a course is considered “in-attendance” only where students are required to attend on a regular, timetabled, in-person basis during weekdays. To avoid any ambiguity: the Department normally considers regular weekday attendance to mean at least once per week of required, scheduled attendance for learning or professional practice during Monday to Friday.’

Q3: Is there a minimum number of hours of weekday, face‑to‑face, in‑person attendance (including evenings) required for a course to be classified as “in‑attendance”?

A: Currently no, there’s no explicit minimum, but there is an expectation that weekday attendance is regular and structured and at least once per week. For a FT course this should also involve at least 24 weeks of activity with an average overall workload of at least 21 hours per week across term time.

Q4: Would in-person attendance at the weekend plus a weekly in-person or online evening session be classed an ‘in attendance’ and therefore eligible for a Maintenance Loan?

A: If the student is attending in-person Monday to Friday alongside weekend attendance, then yes this would be eligible. However, an online evening session plus weekend in-person attendance would not satisfy ‘in-attendance’, as they are not on an in-person basis during the week.

Q5: Going forward will attending 1 day a week and 1 weekend day continue to be eligible for maintenance funding?

A: Technically, yes but you need to consider the regulations in full. Requirements to attend solely at weekends, during vacation periods, solely online or on an occasional basis (including once-termly or fortnightly) do not normally meet the regulatory threshold for in-attendance study.

Q1: Please clarify if the part-time postgraduate (PG) loan students will have their payments blocked? The guidance referred to just talks about full-time undergraduate (UG).

A: Part time master’s and doctoral courses funded by postgraduate loans are not in scope of this exercise, they do not attract Maintenance Loan.

Q2: Do we set up the new distance learning course from the start of the course i.e. first year was 2023/24?

A: Yes, the course needs to be created for 2023/24 and rolled over each year until 2025/26 if the course is still active. Please check that each course is set up for the appropriate campus or franchise location and for each relevant cohort.

Q3: PG students, on standard master’s courses (as opposed to PG courses that attract UG funding), are not eligible for maintenance support, but they are eligible for master’s loans (for both in attendance and distance learning courses). If postgraduate students are moved to a distance‑learning course, will their Master’s funding be blocked, or will it remain available as master’s loans are still payable for distance‑learning provision, subject to personal eligibility? 

A: Should postgraduate students move to a distance-learning course their masters funding will not be blocked. Master’s and doctoral courses funded by postgraduate loans are not in scope of this exercise.

Q4: Can SLC confirm the definition of 'this academic year' (AY) for reassessment purposes? Is the department using the 2025/26 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), academic year (1 August 2025 - 31 July 2026)

A: Yes, the academic year will be from 1 August 2025  to 31 July 2026.

Q5. Should students who started in 2024/25 but are active in 2025/26 (e.g. those who started in June 2025) be included in the reassessment population?

A. Yes, these students will be included in any reassessments.

Q6: The comms state that SLC will notify us once the initial transfer to the weekend only course has been actioned. Can you please confirm how we will be notified?

A: As soon as the initial transfer to the weekend only course has been done, SLC will send an email letting you know when you can submit your next batch of COCs, if necessary.

Q7: If a weekend only student moved from Saturday/Sunday to Saturday (longer day) and Friday evening, still exclude them from the maintenance loan?

A: No, but to be eligible the student must be in attendance in-person on the Friday evening. DfE normally considers regular weekday attendance to mean at least once per week of required, scheduled attendance for learning or professional practice during Monday to Friday.

Q8: If we identified a franchised PG programme which is delivered online and was not set up with the distance learning flag on the Courses Management Service (CMS), what would be best way correct these records?

A: Master’s and doctoral courses funded by postgraduate loans are not in scope of this exercise. To correct these courses to reflect the distance learning flag, you will need to set up a new course indicating the distance learning attribute and transfer your students to this course.

Q9: With regard to switchers (i.e. those that switch eligible courses), will there be any additional requirements with regard to attendance monitoring or is it as per normal attendance monitoring processes?

A: We expect providers to have robust attendance monitoring processes in place for all students on all courses. The DfE confirmed in their letter that they or the SLC may want to see further assurance around oversight, governance and quality assurance arrangements in this regard.

Q10: For students who withdrew from their studies prior to the Secretary of State letter in December 2025, would providers be expected to contact former students who are not currently studying with us to inform them of the clawbacks?

A: Students who have been studying on affected weekend-only courses that are active in AY 2025/26 are in scope of the current instruction SLC has received from the DfE. We will be requesting Change of Circumstances (CoCs) for these students. SLC will inform these students of any overpayments due.

Q11: The letter instructs us to identify all students who have not regularly attended on weekdays this academic year (i.e. 2025/26). Does this include students who have already completed or withdrawn during the academic year?

A: Yes, providers should provide the SSNs for students attached to courses that were active in AY 2025/26.

Q12: How should we correct the records of students who decide to move to a weekend plus a weekday in-attendance course after they’ve been moved to the distance learning course?

A: For students who transfer to an in-attendance course after their previous study has been corrected to the distance learning course, you can transfer them back to the original course in-attendance course, making sure the effective date of the transfer is correct. You will have 2 versions of the course – a distance learning version and an in-attendance version.

Q13: Final year students impacted who only have supervisory sessions left that are not timetabled (either in-person or online), is the expectation now that sessions need to be timetabled in-person on a weekday for these students to become eligible for maintenance loan and targeted grants for the remaining 6 weeks of their studies?

A: Providers should assure themselves that the course meets the regulatory requirements of an in-attendance course, including requiring regular, weekday in-person attendance. We expect providers to ensure these attendance requirements are followed by students, with robust monitoring arrangements in place that evidence regular weekday in-person delivery.

While we recognise that there may occasionally be valid reasons for non-attendance, we expect providers to hold records demonstrating that students are attending the vast majority of required weekday sessions and to inform the SLC promptly where this is not occurring.

We recognise that for some courses it's clear in the course design that there a different delivery patterns towards the end of academic years. If that is the case, then students transferring should meet the course requirements that are relevant at that point of the academic cycle. No additional requirements are needed for these students.

Q1: Do providers need to submit Change of Circumstance (CoC) notifications from the start of a student’s course?

A: Yes — for students who still have an active term in the 2025/26 academic year, providers are required to submit a separate CoC for each academic year of the course, starting from the first year.

For example, where a student commenced their course in 2023/24 and remains active in 2025/26, the provider must submit:

• one CoC for 2023/24
• one CoC for 2024/25
• one CoC for 2025/26

Providers must also ensure the relevant course records are set up for each academic year (2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26).

This approach applies only to students who have an active period of study in 2025/26.

Q2: For students who have been classified as Distance Learning (DL) in academic year 2025/26, but who studied in attendance format on a 3-year course in years 1 and 2, what action is required to correct the assessment?

A: To correct the assessment, providers should follow the process below. This is a staged approach and must be completed in sequence.

• Set up a Distance Learning (DL) version of the course, flowing from the start of the course through to the current academic year (2025/26), and submit a Change of Circumstance (CoC) notification for each academic year to move the student from the current course to the DL course. Effective dates should be backdated to the start of the academic year in which the course format applied.

Once these CoCs have been submitted, providers must wait for the first CoC to be completed for all relevant years before taking any further action.

• Submit a second CoC for years 1 and 2 only to move the student back to the in‑attendance course, where attendance was the original format. This second CoC must not be submitted until the first CoC has been completed.

This process will ensure that the student’s account is correctly updated for all years of their course.

Q3: For cross sessional intakes who were current in 2024/25 academic year but started in June 2025 and completed Term 3 on 13 Feb 2026, should we process transfer COC against their SLC AY 2025/26 record ahead of their return in Term 1 on 15 Jun 2026 or on their AY 2024/25 record?

A: In this example the CoC would be required for AY 2024/25. You can find more information about the transfer CoC process here. We have put in place an internal process to identify transfer CoCs relating to this specific issue and resource has been made available to expedite the process. As a reminder, providers will need to set up distance learning versions of the course for all impacted academic years.

Q4: Can providers who have already moved students to weekday delivery begin CoC submissions earlier than the 6 to 17 April 2026 window stated in the DfE letter?

A: We are updating the relevant accounts to distance learning applications in preparation for CoC submissions. Please do not submit any CoCs until this record correction work is finished. We will be in touch to confirm when you can submit your COCs.

Q5: Do we need to submit CoCs for students who have already completed or withdrawn the course to move them to a distance learning programme?

A: If a student was actively studying this academic year and then withdrew from the course following the SoS letter in December 2025 then yes, you will need to submit COCs. You will need to submit a resumption COC first, then a transfer COC to the newly created distance learning course and finally a withdrawal COC.

Q6: Do we need to re‑confirm attendance for students after they are moved to a distance learning version of an undergraduate course and the CoC has been submitted? If the student should then change back to an in-attendance course, will we have to re-confirm attendance again?

A: Yes, you will need to re-confirm attendance once the COCs are processed. These students will be on your worklist to allow you to confirm their attendance on the distance-learning course.

Q7: We have a number of students who fall within AY 2024/25. These students enrolled in February, May or June 2025 and were still actively enrolled after 1 August 2025. We have been advised that transfer CoCs to the distance‑learning versions of the courses are required, as this falls within the current academic year. For these students, what date should be used as the transfer date?

A: For AY 2024/25 you will do the same as AY 2025/26 and use the day before the start date of the course.

Q1: Will blocks only be placed on the SSNs which we have provided to you?

A: Yes, payment blocks will be applied only to the specific students who have been identified as in scope from the SSNs you provided.

Q2: What is the process if we identify additional students linked to weekend only provision? How quickly will you block payments and communicate with students?

A: If you identify additional students to the original list shared with us, you should provide the SSNs to your account manager for these students as quickly as possible, and we will begin the process.

Q1: Will interest be charged?

A: No additional interest is incurred on the student’s overall loan liability because of a loan overpayment. No interest is charged on any supplementary grants or supplementary grant overpayments.

Q2: Will these repayments affect a student’s credit score, given that they are classified as debt?

A: No, having an overpayment of loan or grant does not impact an individual’s credit score.

Q1: Will SLC provide the maintenance loan / grant overpayment amount for each student?

A: SLC is unable to share student Maintenance Loan and grant data due to our need to comply with data protection laws. Students will now be receiving a notification of entitlement for each year they have been study, as well as an overpayment letter, which they can share with you should they wish.

Q2: Will students receive a detailed breakdown of how their overpayment has been calculated and how it will impact their remaining instalments?

A: Yes, they will receive a notice of entitlement for each AY they were overpaid. Should they transfer to an in-attendance course, their new notice of entitlement for this will demonstrate how their overpayment will be recovered.

Q3: How should providers advise students to contact SLC?

A: Through normal student contact channels.

Q4: Please can you advise whether SLC staff who are taking queries from affected students phoning the helpline are aware that universities cannot submit any CoCs for students until after the 6 April as per your comms? It appears that this is not the case, as we have had students requesting this information to be uploaded today as SLC advised this is possible, and updates will happen within 7 working days.

A: Yes, they are aware and a further reminder has been issued to all contact staff.

Q5: Will Childcare Grant be taken from a future maintenance loan? Or would it be deducted from a future childcare grant?

A: No Childcare Grant overpayment would not be deducted from any future loan entitlement. Childcare Grant is excluded from in-course recovery and will move to ‘out of course’ recovery, meaning any future entitlement for the AY will be left in place.

Q6: Are students who attend distance learning due to their disability, even if at the weekend, impacted by this? 

A: As these courses were previously incorrectly classified as ‘in-attendance’ we don’t expect any students on them will have applied under this condition.

Generally (although there may be some exceptions dependent on a student’s condition), students who are or were able to attend in-person, and on the weekend would not qualify for this exception. This is because the exception is for students with a disability who are undertaking a distance learning course because they are unable to attend a course in-person for a reason which relates to their disability. Students who are able to attend a course in-person should not apply via this exception.

Q1: Is there a dedicated mailbox that we can send questions to for a fast reply?

A: Please send questions to courses_service_management@slc.co.uk. These questions will be added to the FAQ and shared regularly.