Learner support, in further education in England, usually means Learner Support: the fund a college or training provider uses to help learners aged 19 or over who are in financial hardship pay the costs of attending their course, such as travel, childcare, equipment, a laptop or wifi. It is not learning support funding, which pays the provider for the reasonable adjustments a learning difficulty or disability needs.
What is Learner Support?
Learner Support is financial support for learners whose specific financial hardship stops them taking part in or continuing their learning, as the Adult Skills Fund rules for 2026 to 2027 define it. The learner applies to their college or training provider, not to government.
It can come as a loan, a grant the learner does not pay back, or a payment made on their behalf, for example to an Ofsted-registered childcare provider.
The rules are set out in GOV.UK’s guide, Learner Support (GOV.UK), and in the Adult Skills Fund funding rules 2026 to 2027, sections 2.18 and 2.21 to 2.24.
Learner Support and learning support funding: how they differ
Learner Support helps a learner pay their own costs of attending when money is the barrier. Learning support funding pays the provider for the reasonable adjustments a learning difficulty or disability needs.
A third fund with a similar name, the NHS Learning Support Fund, is for university healthcare students and sits outside further education.
| Learner Support | Learning support funding | The NHS Learning Support Fund | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | A further education learner aged 19 or over in financial hardship | An apprentice or adult learner with a learning difficulty or disability | A student on an eligible pre-registration healthcare course, such as nursing, midwifery or an allied health profession, at a university in England |
| What it pays for | The learner’s own costs of attending: travel, childcare, equipment, emergencies, a laptop or wifi | The cost of reasonable adjustments, delivered and evidenced month by month | A training grant, parental support, placement travel and accommodation, and an Exceptional Support Fund |
| Who the money goes to | The learner, or someone paid on their behalf | The provider, through its own claim | The student |
| Who applies or claims | The learner applies to their provider | The provider claims | The student applies to the NHS Business Services Authority, through an NHS Learning Support Fund account |
| Which rules | Adult Skills Fund funding rules 2026 to 2027, 2.21 to 2.24 (non-devolved areas) | Apprenticeship funding rules and Adult Skills Fund funding rules 2.19, 2026 to 2027 | The NHS Business Services Authority’s rules |
| Further education? | Yes | Yes | No |
Cognassist’s work touches only learning support funding.
Who is eligible for Learner Support?
A learner can get Learner Support if they are aged 19 or over, studying for a qualification at level 3 or below, and in financial hardship. Their provider may ask for proof of a low income.
Help with childcare starts at 20. A 19-year-old applies to Care to Learn for childcare and can still get Learner Support for other costs.
In 2026 to 2027, Learner Support is not for:
- higher education courses, or learners on higher education student finance
- learning already fully funded from other sources
- learners in custody or on temporary licence
Learner Support cannot pay for costs the Advanced Learner Loan Bursary Fund already covers, so a learner can have both only where each pays for different costs.
Eligibility is set out in Learner Support (GOV.UK); the exclusions follow the Adult Skills Fund funding rules 2026 to 2027, section 2.21, and GOV.UK.
How much Learner Support can a learner get?
There is no national amount. In 2026 to 2027, outside the devolved areas, each provider pays Learner Support from its own Adult Skills Fund allocation, sets its own criteria, and decides how much each learner gets and how it is paid.
Those criteria must reflect the principles of equality and diversity and be available to learners on request. The provider also hears appeals. To find out what you could get, ask your college or training provider for its Learner Support policy.
What Learner Support pays for
In 2026 to 2027, Learner Support pays for hardship costs, childcare, a Care to Learn top-up, residential access, and ICT (information and communication technology) devices or connectivity: the five categories set by the Adult Skills Fund rules. Before awarding anything, the provider places each learner’s need in one of them.
| Category | What it pays for | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Hardship | Course-related costs such as trips, books and equipment; domestic emergencies and emergency accommodation; transport; exam, accreditation and professional membership fees and other external charges; the provider’s registration fees | Course-related costs only where they are not in the funding rate |
| Childcare, for learners aged 20 and over | Registered childcare | An Ofsted-registered childminder, childcare provider or childminder agency only; never informal childcare by a relative, setting up places or a contribution to a crèche |
| Care to Learn top-up, for learners aged 19 | Childcare costs above Care to Learn’s weekly maximum | Paid direct to the childcare provider |
| Residential access | The costs of living away from home to study | For a learner who has to live away from home, for example for specialist residential provision or provision not available locally |
| ICT devices and connectivity | A device or internet access | For a disadvantaged learner who cannot study online without it; the device is lent and comes back at the end of the course |
Course fees are paid only in exceptional circumstances. Learner Support never pays attendance allowances, or achievement and attendance bonuses. Source: Adult Skills Fund funding rules 2026 to 2027, sections 2.21 to 2.24.
Who funds and runs Learner Support?
In 2026 to 2027, Learner Support is paid from the provider’s Adult Skills Fund allocation, and the provider runs it. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) owns the Adult Skills Fund, and the Department for Education (DfE) runs it on DWP’s behalf.
These national rules cover non-devolved areas only. The combined authorities and the Mayor of London set their own. The source is the Adult Skills Fund funding rules 2026 to 2027, sections 2.18 and 2.21.
What a provider must record for Learner Support
For each learner, the provider records the assessed need in the evidence pack. Under the Adult Skills Fund rules for 2026 to 2027, it must also:
- record the Learner Support reason codes in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR), in its Learner Funding and Monitoring fields
- hold evidence of spending in each of the five categories
- keep a documented process for administration costs, which may not exceed 5% of total Learner Support
- consider other support, such as Jobcentre Plus
- tell learners they must inform DWP themselves, because the payments may affect their benefits
Can apprentices get Learner Support?
No. The apprenticeship funding rules for 2026 to 2027 contain no Learner Support or hardship fund; the nearest thing is the care leavers’ bursary of £3,000, paid once.
The bursary goes to an apprentice who is or has been in the care of a UK local authority, as the rules define it. Apprentices cannot get the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund either, because they are employed rather than in education.
What learning support funding is, in brief
Good records are evidence of good practice, and learning support funding is the provider’s own claim. It pays the provider for the reasonable adjustments an apprentice or Adult Skills Fund learner with a learning difficulty or disability needs.
In 2026 to 2027, it pays £150 per supported learner per month, for each month adjustments are needed, delivered and evidenced. Higher costs can be claimed up to £19,000 a year. No diagnosis is required.
The evidence pack differs by stream:
- Apprentices: a copy of the assessment, why the adjustments are needed, how progress would be affected without them, a plan agreed in writing before any claim, evidence of delivery for each month claimed, and reviews at least every three months.
- Adult Skills Fund learners: a documented assessment, a record of how support will be planned and delivered, evidence of delivery for each month claimed, and the need confirmed monthly.
The rules are in the DWP guidance Support for learners with learning difficulties and disabilities, the apprenticeship funding rules for August 2026 to July 2027 and the Adult Skills Fund funding rules 2026 to 2027, section 2.19.
For further reading on how an apprenticeship claim works, see our guide to learning support funding.
What is there for 16 to 18 year olds?
Learner Support starts at 19. For 16 to 18 year olds, the nearest thing is the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund: in 2026 to 2027, bursaries of up to £1,200 a year for four defined vulnerable groups, and discretionary bursaries set by each institution.
- Bursaries for defined vulnerable groups: up to £1,200 a year on a programme of 30 weeks or more, paid to the student’s actual need, never automatically at £1,200. The groups are students in care; care leavers; students who are financially self-supporting and on Income Support or Universal Credit; and students on Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment together with Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit.
- Discretionary bursaries: the institution sets its own criteria within the guide and pays in kind where it can, such as travel passes, meal vouchers, books or equipment.
The fund is for students aged 16 or over but under 19 on 31 August 2026, on publicly funded provision up to level 3. Source: DfE, 16 to 19 bursary fund guide 2026 to 2027.
What is a learner support plan?
Most people searching for a learner support plan mean a learning support plan: the plan for delivering a learner’s reasonable adjustments, agreed with the learner and reviewed regularly. In 2026 to 2027, for apprentices it is agreed in writing before any claim and reviewed at least every three months; for Adult Skills Fund learners, the need is confirmed monthly.
What goes in one, with a template, is in our guide to the learning support plan.
Both funds turn on the provider’s records
The provider runs both Learner Support and learning support funding, and both turn on the records it holds. For Learner Support, that is each learner’s assessed need and the evidence of spending in each category; for learning support funding, it is the evidence pack behind every month claimed.
Good records are evidence of good practice, whether or not the provider claims. Cognassist’s work touches only learning support funding.
Brighter Horizons, an independent training provider, keeps clear learning support records. Its special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) puts it simply:
We now feel completely confident in our evidence and compliance.
