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Loading …Social work bursary rates in England have been frozen for the 11th consecutive year, the government has revealed.
The standard undergraduate and postgraduate bursaries in England in 2025-26 will be the same as the levels set in 2014, according to the Department of Health and Social Care’s annual information pack on social work education funding.
As a result, they are worth £1,200 to £1,900 less per year than would have been the case had they increased in line with inflation.
Rates frozen for past decade
A similar 11-year freeze has been applied to the placement travel allowance, paid to non-bursary recipients to fund the costs of journeys to and from their placements, making this worth just over £300 less than was the case in 2014.
Meanwhile, a 10-year freeze has been applied to tuition fee contributions to income-assessed bursaries, which top up the core bursary and are means-tested, leading to a loss of value of £1,000-£1,500 in real terms.
The tuition fee contribution for postgraduate students has also remained at the level set in 2015, despite significant rises in fees since then, making it worth almost £1,500 less than would have been the case had it risen with inflation.
How social work bursaries have lost value
| Bursary rates | 2025-26 value | Inflation-adjusted value | Difference |
| Undergraduate – London | £5,262.50 | £7,164.50 | £1,902 |
| Undergraduate – outside London | £4,862.50 | £6,620 | £1,757.50 |
| Postgraduate – London | £3,762.50 | £5,122.50 | £1,360 |
| Postgraduate – outside London | £3,362.50 | £4,578 | £1,215.50 |
| Tuition fee contribution (postgrad) | £4,052 | £5,514 | £1,462 |
| Income assessed bursary – London | £4,201 | £5,717 | £1,516 |
| Income assessed bursary – outside London | £2,721 | £3,703 | £982 |
| Placement travel allowance | £862.50 | £1,174.50 | £312 |
(All rates quoted are for full-time students. The inflation-adjusted level has been calculated using the Bank of England’s inflation calculator.)
Freeze in placement payments
In addition, there has been no change since 2014 to payments under the education support grant (ESG), which funds both the costs of placements to employers and higher education institutions (HEIs) and user and carer involvement in degree programmes.
These remain at:
- £20 per day for practice placement days;
- £10 per day for skills development days;
- £2 per day for the HEI administration fees for placements;
- £7,400 per HEI to fund service user and carer involvement.
Cap on number of bursaries
As has also been the case since 2013, there is a cap of 2,500 on the number of undergraduate bursaries awarded each year and a 1,500 limit on the number of postgraduate awards, meaning not every potentially eligible student receives a payment.
Undergraduate payments remain reserved for those in their second and third years.
The decision to freeze bursary rates for traditional university courses comes despite the government having increased payments for those on the fast-track Step Up to Social Work programme, which is designed to train people to work in children’s services.
Rise in bursary for Step Up students
The bursary for those starting the scheme in January 2026 will be £21,995, paid over 15 months, up from £19,833 over 14 months, as had been the case from since 2014.
However, elsewhere ministers have made cuts to social work education, with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) cancelling the second round of funding allocated for apprenticeships in adults’ services and then not renewing Think Ahead’s contract.
The latter move means that the cohort due to start the fast-track programme for mental health social workers in summer 2025 will be its last.
