Chamberlain Award for Continuing Students

The value of the Chamberlain Award for students who commenced their studies from September 2020 entry is £2,000 and is available to those belonging to one of the following groups:

1. If your household income is below £25,000
2. If you successfully complete a Pathways to Birmingham programme and your household income is below £60,000
3. If your household income is below £60,000 and you are resident in a Low Progression Neighbourhood (defined as a Polar 4 quintile 1 area) when applying to study at Birmingham, as recorded on your UCAS application (as your home address).

Care Leavers are eligible to receive the Enhanced Chamberlain Award as an alternative to the standard Chamberlain Award. You cannot hold both an Enhanced Chamberlain Award and a standard one. 

In order to remain eligible for a standard Chamberlain Award in continuing years of study you must:

• be a UK-resident student continuing to undertake a first undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham's UK campus
• be a normally registered student at the University of Birmingham
• be deemed eligible for maintenance support by the SLC
• be means tested by the SLC and agree to share your household income information with the University (please note that whilst you do need to apply for a Maintenance Loan from the SLC to be considered for a Chamberlain Award, you do not need to take any Maintenance Loan offered to you by the SLC)
• be liable for the full standard undergraduate fee, paid to the University of Birmingham
• not be eligible to receive NHS funding
• not be on an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme
• not be transferring from another institution
• have academically progressed onto the next year of study of your course
• have a household income verified by the relevant SLC agency of either:
  • £25,000 or less; or
  • £60,000 or less and successfully complete a Pathways to Birmingham programme or be resident in a Low Progression Neighbourhood (defined as a Polar 4 quintile 1 area) when applying to study at Birmingham as recorded on your UCAS application (as your home address).

If you are a continuing student on the BA Social Work programme and have not been successful in obtaining the Social Work bursary, you may be eligible for the Chamberlain Award. Please contact the Funding, Graduation & Awards team and attach a copy of your correspondence from either the School of Social Policy or the NHS confirming your ineligibility.

In order for us to be able to assess you for a Chamberlain Award you will need to apply for a means-tested maintenance loan with the Student Loans Company (SLC). There is not a separate application form for the award – it is all done through your Student Finance application. You do not need to take out a loan if you do not want to but you must go through the loan application process in order for us to be able to assess you for the Chamberlain Award. Please do not leave it too late to apply for Student Finance: you need to be assessed by the SLC and reported to us as being eligible for maintenance support by the 31 December in each year of study in order to meet the deadline for the Chamberlain Award. It is also really important that you do not cancel your loan application with the SLC, even if you do not wish to take out maintenance support, as that will cause us to lose the confirmation of your Chamberlain Award entitlement. Instead, you should enter zero as the amount you want to borrow on your declaration form.

Provided you and your parents/guardians have not opted out of sharing your information on your Student Finance application, we will then assess you based on your household income. You will then be sent an email confirming that your entitlement notification letter is available to view online.

Awards are subject to annual and in-year reassessment; all awards will be finalised on 31 December for the previous year of academic study (e.g. 31 December 2021 for academic year 2021/22). If you have not been means tested by the SLC and had your eligibility for maintenance support confirmed to us by them before 31 December you will not be eligible for an award. Please see the notification section, below, for further details.  

We will commence approving Chamberlain Awards for continuing students for the 2021/22 academic year in late October 2021. You should receive notification if you are eligible for the award by 6 December 2021. If this has not been received by 6 December and you believe you may be eligible, please contact the Funding, Graduation & Awards team. Please wait until the 6 December 2021 before contacting us as not all notifications will have been sent before this date. You will need to get in touch with us to report your issue before the 31 December in order for your case to be considered.  

Once approved, you will be sent an email confirming that your entitlement notification letter is available to view online. You will need to log into your student finance account to view your letter. Notifications of entitlement are provisional and may be withdrawn if your circumstances change and you become ineligible for an award. 

Please note, Student Finance England's secure sites start with 'https' and a small padlock icon appears at the bottom of the browser window. This padlock will confirm the certificate of the website and ensure you are not on a fraudulent site.

If you qualify for an award, payment will be made in two equal instalments: one in late January 2022 and one in early May 2022 for the 2021-22 academic year. Payment will be made directly into the bank account you have nominated for your Maintenance Loan.

If your household income is below £36,000, you may be entitled to additional financial support from the University in the form of a Chamberlain Award. The value and criteria of the Chamberlain Award for students who commenced their studies in 2014/15 to 2019/20 is as follows:

Household income	Amount
£0-£25,000	£2,000
£25,001-£36,000	£1,000

Care Leavers are eligible to receive the Enhanced Chamberlain Award as an alternative to the standard Chamberlain Award. You cannot hold both an Enhanced Chamberlain Award and a standard one. 

In order to remain eligible for a standard Chamberlain Award in continuing years of study you must:

• be a UK-resident student continuing to undertake a first undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham’s UK campus 
• be a normally registered student of the University at Birmingham
• be deemed eligible for maintenance support by the Student Loans Company (SLC)
• be means tested by the SLC and agree to share your household income information with the University (please note that whilst you do need to apply for a Maintenance Loan from the SLC to be considered for a Chamberlain Award, you do not need to take any Maintenance Loan offered to you by the SLC)
• be liable for the full standard undergraduate fee, paid to the University of Birmingham
• not be eligible to receive NHS funding
• not be on an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme
• not be transferring from another institution
• have a household income of £36,000 or less (as verified by the relevant SLC agency)
• have academically progressed onto the next year of study of your course.

If you are a continuing student on the BA Social Work programme and have not been successful in obtaining the Social Work bursary, you may be eligible for the Chamberlain Award. Please contact the Funding, Graduation & Awards team and attach a copy of your correspondence from either the School of Social Policy or the NHS confirming your ineligibility.

In order for us to be able to assess you for a Chamberlain Award you will need to apply for a means-tested maintenance loan with the Student Loans Company (SLC). There is not a separate application form for the award – it is all done through your Student Finance application. You do not need to take out a loan if you do not want to but you must go through the loan application process in order for us to be able to assess you for the Chamberlain Award. Please do not leave it too late to apply for Student Finance: you need to be assessed by the SLC and reported to us as being eligible for maintenance support by the 31 May in each year of study in order to meet the deadline for the Chamberlain Award. It is also really important that you do not cancel your loan application with the SLC, even if you do not wish to take out maintenance support, as that will cause us to lose the confirmation of your Chamberlain Award entitlement. Instead, you should enter zero as the amount you want to borrow on your declaration form.

Provided you and your parents/guardians have not opted out of sharing your information on your Student Finance application, we will then assess you based on your household income. You will then be sent an email confirming that your entitlement notification letter is available to view online.

Awards are subject to annual and in-year reassessment; all awards will be finalised on 31 May for the previous year of academic study (e.g. 31 May 2022 for academic year 2021/22). If you have not been means tested by the SLC and had your eligibility for maintenance support confirmed to us by them before 31 May you will not be eligible for an award. Please see the notification section, below, for further details.  

We will commence approving Chamberlain Awards for continuing students for the 2021/22 academic year in late October 2021. You should receive notification if you are eligible for the award by 6 December 2021. If this has not been received by 6 December and you believe you may be eligible, please contact the Funding, Graduation & Awards team. Please wait until the 6 December 2021 before contacting us as not all notifications will have been sent before this date. You will need to get in touch with us to report your issue before the 31 May in order for your case to be considered.  

Once confirmed, you will be sent an email confirming that your entitlement notification letter is available to view online. You will need to log into your student finance account to view your letter. Notifications of entitlement are provisional and may be withdrawn if your circumstances change and you become ineligible for an award. 

Please note, Student Finance England's secure sites start with 'https' and a small padlock icon appears at the bottom of the browser window. This padlock will confirm the certificate of the website and ensure you are not on a fraudulent site.

If you qualify for an award, payment will be made in two equal instalments: one in late January 2022 and one in early May 2022 for the 2021-22 academic year. Payment will be made directly into the bank account you have nominated for your Maintenance Loan.