Student Bursary Support Service

The Education and Skills Funding Agency's (ESFA) main business is to make allocations of funding to education and training institutions effectively, accurately and on time. Student support payments form part of the overall allocations package. The provision of student support forms part of DfE's strategy for raising participation and closing the education gap and supports its strategy to retain all young people in education, training or work experience until age 18. Currently, a proportion of the administration of student financial support services is contracted-out through the Student Bursary Support Service (SBSS). The contract to provide the SBSS will expire on 31 August 2019 and will not be extended. DfE must therefore have a replacement service ready by May 2019 to handle the applications for students starting their studies in September 2019.