Estranged Students (Students with no parental support)

Original Pledge

October 14 2016

Dear Stand Alone

The University of Salford is proud to publicly pledge its support for students who are estranged from their families and who are studying at university without the support of a family network. By supporting the Stand Alone pledge in this public manner we hope to encourage a sector wide positive change and help to embed support for these students, not just at the University of Salford, but at all Universities. We know this can be achieved in this way by the difference that Buttle UK made with care leavers in a similar manner.

The resilience that the these students have already shown merely by making it this far is incredible and we would like to ensure that we are helping and encouraging estranged students at university by supporting them to succeed to the best of their ability. We recognise that, at present, estranged students are three times more likely to drop out due to lack of support. Equally we would like to encourage those estranged students that may be less resilient or confident, but still with the ability to study at university, to achieve that goal by extending our outreach work to address estrangement.

1. Providing a single point of contact
2. Developing webpages for estranged students with useful links and contact information
3. Prioritising hardship funding via our Salford Support Fund.
4. Providing advice and support around funding (including liaison with the Student Loan Company).
5. Signposting to external organisations and internal teams for specific pastoral support
6. Providing support regarding accommodation that is flexible to the needs of the student; priority to those who have been homeless before starting university; and deferment of deposits until after first loan payments

By signing this pledge we agree to work across the university to develop a two year action plan to further develop the above support and to ensure that it remains exemplary and relevant to the needs of estranged students. We will do this by encouraging estranged students to be critical partners in the development of the action plan. We look forward to sharing this plan with you.

To start this process off I will be meeting with a group of estranged students personally in the next month to fully understand the barriers and support that they may need.

Yours faithfully

Dr Sam Grogan

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience)

University of Salford

Stand Alone Legacy Pledge

March 18 2024

Continuing our support

We believe that supporting our estranged students is a critical part of helping them to thrive during their university experience, so we have taken the Stand Alone Legacy Pledge to continue our commitment to support students who are estranged, even after the closure of the charity.

Arron Pile, Manager of Residence and Campus life said regarding the Pledge:

We have used the pledge and our action plan to embed the really important support for students that are estranged, who can face multiple disadvantages and barriers in Higher Education.

We recognise the differences, but also the similarities that estranged students share with care experienced students. We will continue to include estranged students in our action plan of our NNECL Quality Mark Award so all actions in this will apply to estranged students where possible.

We will integrate our current pledge into the NNECL Quality Mark. We pledge that we will always ensure that the support for both groups will be equitable and will always offer the same level of support for both.

Signed by Arron Pile

Residence and Campus Life Manager

Specialist and Inclusive Support

You can apply for Student Finance by yourself through the Government's Student Finance website.

• When you get to the section that asks whether you are a dependent or independent student, tick the box that states that you are “irreconcilably estranged from your family”
• Send in supporting evidence
• Complete the Confirmation of Estrangement Form with Student Finance England

It’s best to send as much supporting evidence as possible. All applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis and the more evidence you provide, the quicker Student Finance England can reach their decision. Any delay in this process could affect the date you receive your student loan payment.

If you'd like someone to help guide you through the process, you can contact our Specialist Advisers at specialistsupport@salford.ac.uk

Estranged Student Summer Bursary

We offer a summer bursary of £550 for Estranged students that have estrangement status with Student Finance. This bursary is intended to help with living costs over the summer. This bursary will be paid in June 2024 for this academic year. To find out more information, such as the eligibility criteria, please see the full terms and conditions at the bottom of this webpage, or email the team on specialistsupport@salford.ac.uk.

Estrangement Support Award

We offer a £550 emergency award that can be applied for at any point in the academic year via the Salford Support Fund. This is also open to students that do not have their independent status from Student Finance and is on top of any other amount you may receive from your Salford Support Fund assessment. You will still need to provide evidence of estrangement or negative support from family to the team when applying for the award. See the full terms and conditions at the bottom of this page.

Student halls

If you stay with our Partner Accommodation that’s run by Campus Living Villages (Peel Park Quarter or John Lester and Eddie Coleman) then we may be able to provide additional support.

• CLV offer 52-week contracts for estranged students to make the gap between academic years easier for you by letting you stay in their accommodation over summer
• They can organise for you to book your room without paying the deposit and rental advance up front, and delaying it until the first instalment of your student loan comes in
• If required, we are able to organise for you to stay at the accommodation for all three years of your study through our ‘Protected Returner’ scheme

If you’d like to find out more about any of the above, please get in contact with us.

Unite Foundation scholarship

We are also University partners with the Unite Foundation, who have a scholarship that can provide up to three years of free accommodation whilst you’re at university.

• You can find out how to apply on the This Is Us website and if you’re successful you’ll get your accommodation without having to pay rent or bills for up to three years
• The application deadline for submitting applications to us was Wednesday 25th May 2022. Any applications submitted after this date may not be considered

Guarantors

We’ve also become partners with Housing Hand, which can act as a guarantor for your accommodation.

• If you’re in your second or third year at university then we may be able to cover the cost of using Housing Hand
• If you are in your first year at Salford then we have an exclusive price of £250 or 8 monthly payments of £35. Please contact the team for further information.

Contact us for accommodation support

If you ever need any advice or support on accommodation, then we have accommodation specialists within askUS who can help. They also work alongside Manchester Student Homes, who will check the legality of contracts and can provide a list of accredited student accommodation providers and landlords. The accommodation team can be contacted on askus@salford.ac.uk or by calling +44 (0)161 295 0023.

The estrangement support team within askUS is here to be your first point of contact at the University and, while we usually only deal with non-academic enquiries, we can put you in contact with other areas of the University. Email specialistsupport@salford.ac.uk  directly so we can provide you with support and set up a one-to-one appointment with you.

• It is completely normal to want or need to seek additional emotional support at university. We have a dedicated Wellbeing and Counselling team who will be able to speak with you about anything that is worrying you and refer you into counselling if you’d like. They can be contacted on +44 (0)161 295 0023 (option 1, option 1), on email at wellbeing@salford.ac.uk or through the referral form
• We also have a dedicated Disability Inclusion Service who will be able to support you with getting extra support in place. It’s best to contact them before you start university so they can get your support in place before you start. They can be called on +44 (0)161 295 0023 (option 1, option 2) or emailed on disability@salford.ac.uk
• We have also set up an instant messaging service to connect our estranged students and prospective students who are estranged. If you’re interested in joining, then please let us know by emailing specialistsupport@salford.ac.uk

Stand Alone

Stand Alone was a UK organisation that has been established to support anyone who has become estranged from their family, or primary care giver.

We still retain strong links with Stand Alone and the legacy of their work.

While Stand Alone was in operation they offered a wide variety of useful resources, and research into Estrangement Support. You can find some useful links to some of their reports below. 

• What happened next? Transitioning out of Higher Education 
• Family Matters. An exploration the role and importance of family relationships for students in UK higher education 
• Hidden Voice: Family Estrangement in Students
• Focus on access and retention. Risks for students who are estranged or disowned by their family 

Other support

• Buttle UK provides thousands of grants to young people in the UK, often when there is no other source of help available to you. One particular grant that might be available to estranged young people is the Students and Trainees Programme
• The Students and Trainees Programme awards financial support to young people (aged 16-20), who are estranged from their parents to attend education. There are criteria and eligibility for this programme, so please ensure you check this first
• Brightside has some useful information for students whose parents are unwilling to provide their income details, as well as estranged students finding it difficult to evidence independence
• Turn2us is a free service that helps people in financial need to access welfare benefits, charitable grants and other financial help. Their website has a free and easy to use benefits calculator and grants search
• UCAS have launched a handy guide to applying as an Estranged student and how to access support whilst at university

The award is to support a student’s learning and living costs and is available to UK full-time and part-time students who are struggling financially, have declared themselves as estranged or having a negative or poor relationship with family and were under the age of 26 when starting their current programme of study at the University of Salford.  

In Higher Education the word estrangement is used by Student Finance to describe a student with no relationship with either parent (adoptive or biological) and would not be able to provide information for means testing. At Salford we use a wider definition to include little, no or negative support from parents and carers. These students can also apply for this award.  

Eligible students will be awarded a one-off payment of £550. The £550 payment is in addition to any amount awarded by the Salford Support Fund from a standard assessment. This will be based on their application to the fund which will look at recent bank statements to assess spending and will take into consideration the need for further funds.  

The Salford Estrangement Support Award is limited to 60 awards of £550 and will be awarded following an assessment by the Money Advice and Funds Service.  

Application to the Salford Estrangement Support Award will be through the standard Salford Support Fund application. This can be requested by contacting the askUS enquiries team on +44 (0)161 295 0023 (option 2, option 3), emailing askus@salford.ac.uk or visiting the askUS desk at University House. Please ensure that you tick the box on the form confirming your estrangement and upload your evidence.

To receive the Salford Estrangement Support Award, students must meet all the following criteria:

• Be verified as an estranged student or a student with no/negative support by the Campus and Student Life Team
• Be studying a course either delivered by the University on the University’s main campus (including Media City) or at a UK partner college: Salford City College or Bury College
• Be classed as a Home student (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Republic of Ireland) for fee purposes
• Have consented to the sharing of data submitted to Student Finance

For the 2023/24 academic year students must be registered and in attendance on a full-time or part-time course being delivered by the University at its main campus either at the University or a UK partner college (Salford City College or Bury College). This includes those students on a Higher National Certificate (HNC) course, postgraduate students and foundation course (level 3) students.

The award will be given to those who meet the eligibility criteria at the University at the time of allocation (please note: there are only 60 awards available each academic year).

Those not eligible for this award:

• Students who are not classed as home for fee purposes, or whose fee status is unresolved
• Students who were not ordinarily resident in the UK (i.e. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, also included is the Republic of Ireland) at the start of their course
• Students studying on a degree apprenticeship course
• Students already in receipt of the Care Experienced Student Bursary
• Students who have been assessed by the Salford Support Fund team as ineligible for financial support due to money mismanagement

Verification will be undertaken by the Campus and Student Life Team in collaboration with the Money Matters Team, who will cross-reference information provided through UCAS, Online Registration and Student Finance. When necessary each student who has declared their status will be invited to attend a triage session to verify their status and eligibility for the Salford Estrangement Support Award.  

Students who have self-declared as estranged will be asked to provide evidence. In line with recommendations from Standalone, the evidence may take the form of any of the following:  

• A letter from a member of staff at school or college which explains that they knew about the difficult relationship whilst the student was at school and their subsequent estrangement
• A letter from the student’s doctor explaining that they have consistently, and historically reported difficulties associated with estrangement
• A letter from a social worker or local authority that shows they were aware of the student’s difficult situation and/or they allocated them a child protection order
• A letter from a counsellor or an organisation such as Stand Alone, National Association of People Abused in Childhood or Karma Nirvana that can vouch for the fact the student has been seeking support for their estrangement or disownment
• A letter from a housing support worker who may have helped the student find accommodation after they left home
• A letter from a member of the clergy, a rabbi or imam explaining that they were aware of the difficulties in the student’s family and their subsequent estrangement
• A statement of incident from the Police that shows any callouts, arrests or cautions involved in the case
• Appropriate evidence for any student who is still in contact with their family but has a poor, controlling or negative relationship with them

There are additional sources of evidence that would be considered suitable, but if the student is unable to provide the evidence requested, the specialist adviser will discuss this in further detail at a triage session. They should indicate this on the application form and an adviser will be in contact to discuss this further.

 Awards are not transferable and should be used to assist with living costs.

•  All cash payments are paid through the Inspire scheme and details of how to download the cash will be provided when the award is made. 

• Payments must be downloaded within one month of payment. Failure to do so will mean loss of award. 

• Any students not claiming their bursary may claim at a later stage in their course, including if they have become estranged during their course. However, payments cannot be backdated.  

Please note: evidence must be provided in the online application.

• Students can only apply once per academic year
• Students will need to provide their rent agreement showing monthly payment amount
• Students will need to provide full bank statements for the 3 months immediately prior to submission of an application for ALL of their bank accounts
• Students will need to provide a personal statement as part of the standard support fund application
• Further evidence may be required as part of the standard Salford Support Fund application

The £550 cash bursary is to support a student’s learning and living costs and is available to UK undergraduate full-time and part-time students verified as estranged and under the age of 25 when starting their course. 

In Higher Education the word estrangement is used by Student Finance to describe a student with no relationship with either parent (adoptive or biological) and that is not able to provide information for means-testing. At Salford we use a wider definition to include little, no or negative support from parents and carers. This bursary is however for those can verify that they fall within the Student Finance definition. There is a separate fund for those that do not (see Salford Estrangement Support Award).  

All students who declare their status as estranged either through UCAS or the Online Registration will be eligible for the award provided they have gained independent status with Student Finance for estrangement. This will be verified by the Campus and Student Life Team.

Every eligible student will be awarded a £550 cash bursary. Part-time students will have access to the same amount as full-time students, but their awards will be pro-rata over the scheduled minimum duration of their courses. All verified estranged students who fit the eligibility criteria will be supported by the University.

The £550 bursary is paid out in June of the academic year. Bursaries will be awarded to those who meet the eligibility criteria at the University at the time of allocation. To receive the bursary students must meet all the following criteria:  

• Have applied to Student Finance as an estranged student and been successful in qualifying as an independent student through estrangement. If help is needed with this process contact us at specialistsupport@salford.ac.uk
• Have applied to Student Finance as an estranged student previously and been successful in qualifying as an independent student through the birth of a child – student must provide additional evidence of estrangement if requested by the verification team
• Be verified as an estranged student by The Campus and Student Life Team
• Be studying a UG course either delivered by the University on the University’s main campus (including Media City) or at a UK partner college: Salford City College or Bury College
• Be classed as a Home student, (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Republic of Ireland) for fee purposes. 
• Must have consented to the sharing of data submitted to the Student Loans Company
• Have met the required progression criteria for their course
• Must be at the correct level of study
• Must not have been previously registered with the University for any course except where the student is progressing from a foundation course to the first year of an undergraduate course (level 4)

For the 2023/24 academic year students must:

• Be registered on a full-time or part-time undergraduate course being delivered by the University at its main campus either at the University, a UK partner college AND must be paying the maximum undergraduate fee of £9,250 per year. This includes those students on a Higher National Certificate (HNC) course; OR
• Be enrolled on a course of study that includes a Study abroad year, a one-year industry placement year, or a course that involves an integrated masters; OR
• Be registered and studying a foundation course (level 3) delivered either by the University at its main campus or at a UK partner college: Salford City College or Bury College

Those not eligible for this bursary:

• Students who are not classed as home for fee purposes, or whose fee status is unresolved.  
• Students who were not ordinarily resident in the UK (i.e. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) or the Republic of Ireland.  
• Students studying on a degree apprenticeship course.  
• Students in receipt of the Care Experienced Student Bursary
• Students who have a relationship with their parents 
• Students deferring entry – subject to awards still being available, students holding offers for a deferred entry will be considered for an award the year they start their course.  
• Students who are studying at postgraduate level

Each student who has declared their estrangement will be invited to attend a welcome session to verify their status and discuss their personalised learning support and eligibility for the Summer Bursary.

Verification will be undertaken by the Campus and Student Life Team, who will cross-reference information provided through UCAS, Online Registration and the Student Loans Company. Each student will need to verify their independent status (due to estrangement) with Student Finance to be eligible for the Estrangement Bursary.

Students who have self-declared as estranged will be asked to provide evidence to Student Finance. In line with recommendations from Stand Alone, the evidence may take the form of any of the following:

• A letter from a member of staff at school or college which explains that they knew about the difficult relationship whilst the student was at school and their subsequent estrangement
• A letter from the student’s doctor explaining that they have consistently, and historically reported difficulties associated with estrangement
• A letter from a social worker or local authority that shows they were aware of the student’s difficult situation and/or they allocated them a child protection order
• A letter from a counsellor or an organisation such as Stand Alone, National Association of People Abused in Childhood or Karma Nirvana that can vouch for the fact the student has been seeking support for their estrangement or disownment
• A letter from a housing support worker who may have helped the student find accommodation after they left home
• A letter from a member of the clergy, a rabbi or imam explaining that they were aware of the difficulties in the student’s family and their subsequent estrangement
• A statement of incident from the Police that shows any callouts, arrests or cautions involved in the case
• Completion of the SLC Estrangement Form for self-assessment (with a member of the Estrangement Support Team)

There are additional sources of evidence that would be considered suitable, but if the student is unable to provide the evidence requested, the Specialist Adviser will discuss this in further detail at the triage session.

Awards are not transferable and should be used to assist with living costs over the summer.

• All cash payments are paid through the Inspire scheme and details of how to download the cash will be provided when the award is made. 

• Payments must be downloaded within one month of payment. Failure to do so will mean loss of award. 

• If a student does not meet the eligibility criteria by Tuesday 11 June 2024, they will not receive this bursary for the current academic year. 

• Any students not claiming their bursary may claim at a later stage in their course, including if they have become estranged during their course. However, payments cannot be backdated.

• Changing a course and starting again at level 3 (foundation  year) or 4 (first year undergraduate). Students who, having started a course, subsequently change courses starting again at either level 3 or 4, will not be eligible for the award against the new course. The original award will remain, but there will be no second payment against the new course. Once the student progresses onto the next level they will be eligible for the appropriate award to be made for that year of study
• Temporary breaks in study. Students who arrange with the University to interrupt or leave their course on a temporary basis will have their award frozen until they resume studies
• Suspension of study. If students are suspended by the University, their award will be frozen until the suspension has been lifted
• Repeat/extended study. Repeat periods of study and temporary breaks in study that lead to repeat periods of study will not qualify for any additional award. The award entitlement is for the scheduled minimum duration of the course and is not extended for any student
• Leaving or being removed from the course. Students who leave or are removed from their course will not be expected to repay the amount of their awards which have already been spent. However, the accounts of these students will be closed, and any remaining award will not be available to them and entitlement to all future payments will stop on the date they leave or are removed
• In accordance with the Student Private Policy, The Campus and Student Life Team, the schools and the Money Matters team will need to liaise to verify student status and eligibility for this bursary