Funding · England
Degree apprenticeship funding (England)
Degree apprenticeship funding (England) is administered by Department for Education / Skills England, through the employer's apprenticeship service account. The figures below are the published 2026/27 rates. 1 element carries a published figure and 3 do not, so a full total cannot be computed from published figures. 12 of the allied health professions on this site qualify, matched on the routes it funds.
What it is
A degree apprenticeship is a job, not a student place. Your employer pays you a wage from day one and the cost of the training and end-point assessment is met from the employer's apprenticeship levy funds or from government co-investment, up to the funding band maximum for the standard. The apprenticeship funding rules explicitly forbid a provider or employer from asking the apprentice to contribute financially, so there is no tuition fee and no student loan - but equally no NHS Learning Support Fund.
The elements below are separate awards under one scheme, and they are conditional in different ways. Some are flat payments made to everyone on an eligible course; some are assessed against household income; some reimburse costs you have already incurred and are worth nothing to you unless you incur them. Reading the scheme as a single headline figure is the mistake that leads people to budget for money they will never see.
A single total for this scheme cannot be computed from the published figures. Several elements — Training and assessment costs, Government contribution for non-levy employers and Apprentice wage — are described in the scheme rules without a rate attached, or the rate is set individually. This page publishes what is stated and leaves the rest blank rather than estimating it; the administering body will give you a figure for your own circumstances.
- Nation
- England
- Academic year
- 2026/27
- Administered by
- Department for Education / Skills England, through the employer's apprenticeship service account
- Routes funded
- Degree apprenticeship
- Elements
- 4
What each element pays, and on what condition
The amount column is the figure the administering body publishes. Where it is blank, no rate is published — either the award is assessed individually or the guidance sets limits rather than a single sum.
| Element | Amount | Basis | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Training and assessment costs | Not published | apprenticeship | Met from the employer's levy funds or government co-investment, up to the funding band maximum set for each apprenticeship standard. Funding band maxima vary by standard and are not recorded here. |
| Apprentice financial contribution | £0 | apprenticeship | Rule 220 of the apprenticeship funding rules states that the provider, or the employer, must not ask the apprentice to contribute financially to the eligible costs of training or assessment. This applies whether the apprentice completes successfully or leaves the programme early. |
| Government contribution for non-levy employers | Not published | apprenticeship | For apprenticeship starts from 1 August 2026, where the employer does not pay the levy, government funds all training and assessment costs up to the funding band maximum for apprentices aged 16 to 24 at the start of training. Where the apprentice is aged 25 or over, government contributes 95%. Where a levy-paying employer has exhausted its funds and the apprentice is 25 or over, government contributes 75%. |
| Apprentice wage | Not published | hour (minimum) | Apprentices are employees earning a wage with holiday pay. The National Minimum Wage apprentice rate is £8.00 per hour, applying to apprentices aged 16 to 18 and to those aged 19 or over in the first year of their apprenticeship; after the first year, apprentices aged 19 or over move to the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for their age. Many NHS employers pay more than the minimum. Apprentices must be paid for normal working hours and for training that forms at least 20% of those hours. |
Work out what you would get
This is arithmetic on the scheme’s own published figures, and nothing else. Elements published on the same basis — here, per apprenticeship — are added together. Where the scheme publishes more than one rate for the same payment, only the highest is counted, because you can only receive one of them. Elements published on a different basis are listed separately below and not added, because adding a per-claim reimbursement to an annual grant would produce a number that means nothing.
A total appears only where every element in the group carries a published figure. If one does not, the components that exist are still shown and the total is left uncomputed. That is the honest position: an incomplete sum presented as a total is worse than no total at all, because you would budget against it.
Every eligible profession
- Training and assessment costs — no figure published
- Apprentice financial contribution — £0
- Government contribution for non-levy employers — no figure published
The total cannot be computed from published figures: Training and assessment costs and Government contribution for non-levy employers have no published amount.
Applies identically to these 12 professions.
Who qualifies
The scheme funds the degree apprenticeship route . If you are training by another route, this is not the scheme that applies to you — compare the routes for your profession before you apply.
- Diagnostic radiographer — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Dietitian — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Occupational therapist — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Operating department practitioner — what the job is · undergraduate degree and degree apprenticeship
- Orthoptist — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Osteopath — what the job is · undergraduate degree, integrated master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Paramedic — what the job is · undergraduate degree and degree apprenticeship
- Physiotherapist — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Podiatrist — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Prosthetist/orthotist — what the job is · undergraduate degree and degree apprenticeship
- Speech and language therapist — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Therapeutic radiographer — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
What does not qualify
Exclusions decide more applications than entitlements do. Read them before you commit to a course on the assumption that it is funded.
How it works with student loans
Degree apprentices do not take out student loans for the apprenticeship: there is no tuition fee to borrow against and no maintenance loan, because the apprentice is a salaried employee. This also rules out the NHS Learning Support Fund, whose rules exclude anyone paid by their employer for time off to attend their course or in receipt of NHS salary support during any part of the course.
This is the part applicants most often get wrong, and getting it wrong is expensive: apply for the wrong student finance product and you can end up with less money, no entitlement to the scheme on this page, and a course already under way. Check which product your specific course is designated for with the university before you submit anything, because designation is set course by course rather than by the award name.
How to apply
Applications go to Department for Education / Skills England, through the employer's apprenticeship service account, not to your university, and most schemes run to a deadline set from the start of the academic year. Apply as soon as you have an unconditional place — several elements are assessed from the start of the year and cannot be backdated indefinitely.
How this compares with the rest of the UK
The same course can be funded on four different bases depending on where you study. If you are choosing between universities in different nations, this is a bigger financial difference than tuition fee headlines suggest.
Also in England
NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF)
The NHS Learning Support Fund is extra, non-repayable money for students on eligible pre-registration nursing, midwifery and allied health profession courses at universities in England.
Undergraduate-rate student finance for pre-registration postgraduate (MSc/PGDip) courses
This is the single most misunderstood point in AHP student funding.
Postgraduate Master's Loan (England)
The Postgraduate Master's Loan is a single contribution towards fees and living costs for a standalone master's degree, paid direct to the student.
The other nations
- SAAS standard student support for AHP courses (Scotland) — Scotland
- Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary (PNMSB) — Scotland · 2025/26
- NHS Wales Bursary Scheme — Wales · 2026/27
- Department of Health (NI) healthcare bursary for AHP students — Northern Ireland · 2026/27
Carry on from here
- All funding schemes — Every scheme across the four nations
- Compare training routes — What each route costs and what it pays
- Every approved course — Filter by nation to see which funding regime applies
- NHS pay bands — What you earn once you are registered
- Degree apprenticeships — The salaried alternative to student funding
- Sources and licensing — Where these figures came from
Where this page’s data comes from
Figures published by Department for Education / Skills England, through the employer's apprenticeship service account for 2026/27. Rules change every academic year — confirm with the scheme’s own guidance before you rely on any figure here.
- HCPC register summary and registrant snapshots (aggregate)Health and Care Professions Council · No open licence stated; HCPC copyright · checked 3 September 2026
- gov.ukCited page
- assets.publishing.service.gov.ukCited page
- healthcareers.nhs.ukCited page
- nhsbsa.nhs.ukCited page