Care leavers or care experienced
UWE Cares eligibility and how we assess you for support.
If you have lived in supported housing, local authority (council) or foster care for any duration before you turned 18 and you are a Home UK undergraduate student, you can access support from UWE Cares as a care leaver or care-experienced student. There is no age limit for our care leaver bursary.
Care leavers
This includes all students who were in the care of their local authority (council) for a period of 13 weeks or up to their 16th birthday. The 13 weeks could be all at once or a series of placements that add up to 13 weeks. They could have lived in foster homes, children's homes or other institutions like inpatient hospitals or young offender centres.
Student finance bodies will define you as a care leaver if:
- you’re under 25 on the first day of your course
- you’ve been in the care of or been given accommodation by the local authority (council) for at least 13 weeks before the age of 16
- you haven’t been reconciled with your parents between leaving care and starting your course.
Care experienced
This includes all students who can evidence they have been in care at any stage in time and for any duration before they turned 18 years old.
It includes those who were adopted (from care) before the age of 18, those who had a special guardianship order (which means they go to live with a friend or family member outside of fostering) and those who were care leavers but are now over 25 years old.
Eligibility and how we assess your application
The steps below explain how we assess for UWE Cares Support and explain the eligibility criteria for the UWE Cares Bursary and accommodation offer.
You must complete all of these actions to be eligible for our support and to be assessed for the UWE Cares bursary and accommodation offer.
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Step 1
To be eligible for our support as a care leaver you must:
- be a Home UK undergraduate student
- be studying your first undergraduate degree, studying at least 30 credits per year
- be able to evidence your status as a care leaver to student finance bodies.
Bursary and accommodation offer
For bursary and accommodation offer eligibility, you must meet all the above criteria and be income assessed by your student finance body as having a household income under £25,000.
- Make sure you tick the care leaver box on your application and are assessed as independent.
- Make sure your household/personal income is assess by your student finance body.
Applying for student finance as a care leaver (PDF)
The quicker you apply for student finance the better. This will help UWE Bristol to assess your eligibility for our UWE Cares bursary and waiving of the advanced rent payment for UWE Bristol accommodation.
If you are not sure whether you are eligible or you are a current student and want to be assessed for support, please contact us at UWECares@uwe.ac.uk.
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Step 2
To be eligible for our support as care experienced you must:
- be a Home UK undergraduate student
- be able to evidence you are care experienced to UWE Cares
- be studying your first undergraduate degree, studying at least 30 credits per year.
To see that you are care experienced, you will need to send us evidence. Please email us a photo or scanned copy of the following:
- a letter from your local authority; or
- a letter from your case worker or social worker which must confirm:
- that you were looked after by a local authority (this includes being placed in foster care by your local authority)
- the dates that you were in care.
Bursary and accommodation offer
For bursary and accommodation offer eligibility, you must meet all the above criteria and be income assessed by your student finance body as having a household income under £25,000.
The quicker you apply for student finance the better. This will help UWE Bristol to assess your eligibility for our UWE Cares bursary and waiving of the advanced rent payment for UWE Bristol accommodation.
If you are not sure whether you are eligible or you are a current student and want to be assessed for support, please contact us at UWECares@uwe.ac.uk.
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Step 3
Please refer to our application guidance if you need help.
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Step 4
If you are a care leaver or are care experienced, it's important that you let UWE Cares know you are coming to study with us at UWE Bristol. This helps us make sure you have all the info you need to access support and events when you begin your course.
If you are an applicant, you can fill out the survey we send to your UWE Welcome portal when you receive your offer or contact us via email at UWECares@uwe.ac.uk.
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Step 5
If you are eligible for the UWE Cares bursary, you will also be eligible for UWE Cares accommodation support.
When you choose UWE Bristol as your firm choice on UCAS, you’ll receive an email from our Admissions team inviting you to apply for student accommodation.
Applications for UWE Bristol's accommodation will open on 13 June 2024.
We will give you more information about applying for accommodation when you contact us.
Your legal right to support from your Council
If you have experience of living in care and are under 25 years old, you may be legally entitled to further support from your local council/local authority's Children's Services. This may include additional financial support.
- Understand what you are entitled to with Coram Voice.
- Search for your council/local authority's individual offer.
- Find out about your legal right to support.
You can also get information and advice direct from Coram Voice's Always Heard service for free:
- Tel: +44 (0)808 800 5792
- Email: help@coramvoice.org.uk
Guidance for prospective students
If you're thinking about studying at university and you are a care leaver or care experienced, these resources can help:
- UCAS guide about applying to university if you are a care leaver or care experienced.
- Call the Become care advice telephone line for help and advice about education, housing issues, money worries and more.
- Read the EaCES Handbook, which is written by Estranged and Care-Experienced Students (EaCES), to find out more about applying to university and the support you can access.
- Student Finance England short guide to applying for student finance as a care leaver.
Please tick the care leaver box on your UCAS application. This will help universities to offer you extra support. It will also enable us to give you the support you might need before you join us.
"From the students we’ve spoken to at various universities, I’d say the support UWE offers is stand out excellent. Your students all spontaneously gave glowing feedback about the wonderful support they receive."
Children in Care charity
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