Barclays Learning Support Grants Programme

Be a parent/carer with legal responsibility for a child/children aged under 18.

Be in receipt of one or more of the means-tested benefits:

• Universal Credit
• Pension Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Council Tax Support
• Working Tax Credit
• Child Tax Credit
• Income-based JSA
• Income-related ESA
• Income Support

Have right of residency in the UK.

Be a student currently studying on a course at a partner Further Education College or Adult Education Institution at the following national framework levels:

• England, Northern Ireland and Wales: Levels 2 and 3
• Scotland: Levels 5 and 6

• Students who are not studying at a registered referral college.
• Students who do not meet all the eligibility criteria above.
• Employees of registered referral colleges.
• Applicants with savings of £6,000 or more.

Authorised members of staff from the following further education colleges:

• Ayrshire College
• Belfast Metropolitan College
• Bishop Auckland College
• Burnley College
• Burton & South Derbyshire College
• City and Islington
• Coventry College East Coast College
• Glasgow Clyde College
• Gower College
• Gwent College
• Hartlepool College
• Hull College
• Lambeth College
• London South Bank Technical College
• New City College
• St Helen’s Community College
• Stanmore College
• The City of Liverpool College
• The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London
• Tyne Coast College
• West London College

Family Action does not accept applications directly from individual members of the public. All applications must be submitted by authorised staff from the colleges listed in the section “Who can submit an application?”

Staff of the referring organisation cannot apply for a grant for themselves, members of their family or other employees of the referring organisation.

The on-line application process will be available from 12^th September until 18^th December 2025 or until funds are depleted.  Colleges will be informed individually if this information changes.

The maximum grant will be £1,000.

We are only able to consider one application per applicant per academic year.

The “additional” costs directly associated with a course of study as follows:

• Laptop/computer/tablet (that includes Microsoft software package)
• Smartphone
• Broadband OR Smartphone Data
• Computer software for
  • special needs or disability only, e.g. to assist those with visual impairment)
  • software required for the course not provided by the college (excluding Microsoft)
• Books required for the course of study
• Equipment required for the course, that is not provided by the place of study
• Travel
• Exam fees
• Contribution to basic household needs (food, gas, electric, oil) of up to £500 dependant on the size of the household and the length of time remaining on the course at the time the application is submitted.

We will not fund course fees, costs already incurred, items provided by the place of study for the course, courses outside the UK.   We will only fund items listed in the section “What items can be funded?”

Yes, we will require a bank statement which shows the applicant’s name, address, sort code, account number and receipt of a means tested benefit. The bank statement should be for a whole month, show all balances and be less than 3 months old.

If the applicant is only in receipt of Council Tax Support or Housing Benefit, which may not be detailed on their bank statement, we will also require the most recent documentary evidence that they are in receipt of these benefits.

We may require additional documentation after the application has been submitted.  If this is the case we will contact you, within 2 working days of the meeting date at which the application was initially considered, asking you for additional supporting documentation.

Prior to submitting an application on behalf of the applicant it is essential that you ensure they understand how information provided on the application form will be used and to obtain their informed consent to their data being processed by Family Action, for the purposes of making an application for a grant.

You will be asked to confirm that you have received the informed consent of the applicant before submitting an application on their behalf on the application form.

Full details are provided in the Terms and Conditions which you need to confirm you have read before completing an application.

1. Press CTRL and click on this link which will take you to the application form: https://family-action-trustsearch.org.uk/apply/barclayslsg/intro.aspx
2. Enter your email address and click on the link to continue.
3. If you are new to the system, the system will ask you a few basic questions about you before creating your account. It will then email you a temporary password.
4. Click on the link provided in the email and follow the instructions to set up your account password. Once you have set up a password it can be used for all applications.
5. Click “Create a new Barclays Learning Support Fund Application” and complete the application form.
6. The application is saved automatically as you move from one page to another. If you wish to save your application form and return to it later click the save button on the last screen completed.
7. Click “Submit” to send your application to Family Action. Note:  After you click “submit” you will not be able to make changes as you will no longer be able to access the application.

1. Press CTRL and click on this link : https://family-action-trustsearch.org.uk/apply/barclayslsg/intro.aspx
2. Enter your email address and click on the link.
3. When prompted, enter your password and click on the link. If you forget your password just follow the instructions on the screen to create a new password.
4. Either click on “create a new application” OR select an incomplete application by clicking on the application number to continue.

Email the Grants Service at [email protected] detailing your problem and using screen grabs to illustrate your problem, if appropriate. The grants service will get back to you as quickly as possible. We review all emails and if our automated response does not answer your questions we will reply individually and telephone if necessary if a contact number is provided.

We are only able to offer limited telephone support so in the first instance please email your enquiry to [email protected] Our telephone helpline is currently open between 1pm to 3pm from Tuesday to Friday. Calls will not be taken outside these hours however you can always email us.

You will immediately receive an automated email providing you with a unique reference/application number for the application submitted (please quote this number in any future correspondence) and the latest date on which the application will be considered (usually within 3 working days of receipt). A copy of the application form submitted is attached to this email.

You will be informed of our decision, by email, within 2 working days of the date on which the application is considered.

If the grant application is deferred then you will have 2 weeks in which to provide the information asked for so that the application can be assessed. If the information has not been received within 2 weeks then the application may be made unsuccessful. If you wish to appeal this decision and can supply the information requested when the application was deferred we will be happy to reconsider our decision providing sufficient funds remain available. See below on how to appeal.

If the grant application is successful a payment will be made BACS to the referral college’s nominated bank account within 3 working days of the application being considered.  A remittance advice will be sent to the email address provided in the signed agreement.

In order to be able to provide the generous donors, our supporters and the wider community with the assurance that donations are directly benefiting those eligible to apply to this grants programme, we need to be able to demonstrate the difference the award of a grant has as made to the student.

We therefore ask for feedback about the impact of grants awarded. If the applicant provided consent for us to contact them at the time the application was submitted we will contact them direct. If they did not provide consent or do not respond to our request for feedback we will contact the member of staff that submitted the application.

Feedback will be requested via email, or otherwise, as determined by us from time to time. The feedback provided must be anonymised and not include any personal data about the applicant.

We reserve the right to refuse to consider further applications for an individual or further applications from the college if we consider that feedback requested has unreasonably failed to be provided.

We reserve the right to request evidence that any grant payment made has been used for the purpose set out in the application.

The majority of unsuccessful applications are because the applicant does not meet our eligibility criteria so it is very important to check these before taking the time to submit an application.

Eligibility criteria are published on the website where we also publish updates on funds available at any given time so it is important that you read ALL information available on the website before submitting your application.

If your grant application is unsuccessful and you would like us to review our decision we are happy to do so on receipt of an email detailing the reasons why you feel a review is required.  In your email please provide the unique reference number of the application in the subject line of the email and send it to [email protected]  We will respond to each review request individually as soon as we can which will usually be within 7 working days.

Please note we will only enter into correspondence with the referring organisation that submitted the application. 

Email:               [email protected]

Post:                With regret we are unable to acknowledge or respond to postal enquiries unless an email address is provided.

Phone:             07816 408119 on Tuesday to Friday from 1pm to 3pm. Calls will not be taken outside these hours however you can always email us.

NOTE:  The grants service is open between 9.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. Tuesday to Friday. The grants service is closed on Mondays.