Student Carers Support Package

• You are the full time carer and take on all care and responsibilities for that individual. 
• You are a ‘Home’ student (EU and International students are not eligible for the financial support, but can access the Pastoral and Academic support).
• You are enrolled on an Undergraduate or Postgraduate Course.
• You are Full Time or Part Time (*Part Time will be paid on a pro rata basis).
• Please note that these duties would be in addition to the usual caring responsibilities that a parent would have for a dependent child, unless the dependent child has a serious illness, mental health problems or disability.

You will need to obtain a piece of evidence dated within the last 12 months to prove your carer's status. This should be about your caring responsibilities not about the person you care for. 

Examples could include, a letter from your GP or other medical professionals, Voluntary Sector or School confirming your carer's status. The letter or email must be on a headed paper and include the following:

• your name,
• who you care for,
• confirmation you are the primary carer for this person, 
• a brief outline of the care you provide

You may also use a prior receipt of Carer's Allowance. 

Please note: You will only be required to provide evidence once if you continue to access the carer's support for the duration of your studies. If your caring responsibilities do change during your studies, you will be expected to notify Welfare@CampusLife of these changes.

Please email studentcarers.campuslife@swansea.ac.uk to find out more about applying! 

Please email studentcarers.campuslife@swansea.ac.uk and advise us of your situation. You may not be able to access the package at this time, but we may still be able to offer you practical advice and guidance.

In the meantime, you may like to consider disclosing your caring situation to either your GP or Social Services. Most GP practices would welcome your disclosure and most have support and advice available for carers.

Even if you do not feel that you would be eligible for financial support from Social Services, you can still request a carer's assessment, which may include non-financial support options. Talking to your GP and/or Social Services is advised by the NHS and please be aware that we will still consider applications later in the academic year once you are in a position to provide evidence. Please see the NHS advice for carers for more information and links to further support.

The University recognises that students may find themselves in the position of being a 'temporary carer' at some point during their studies. This could be because a family member has had an accident, been diagnosed with an illness, or is undergoing treatment and the student needs to take on additional caring responsibilities for a short period whilst they recover.

Students who have temporary caring responsibilities are welcome to apply for the Student Carers Support Package. Applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.  These applications will be reviewed on a 6 monthly basis, however, if your circumstances change, we ask that you inform your named contact.

Your application for the Student Carers Support Package may take up to 5 working days and can be longer during busy periods.

When applying for the bursary, this can take up to 10 working days for the Money@Campuslife team to process your application.

You will only be required to provide evidence of your carer's status once if you continue to access the package for the duration of your studies.

You are not required to re-apply for the Carers Support Package, but it is the Students responsibility to inform the University if there are any changes throughout the year. 

Your named contact within the Welfare team will make contact with you at the beginning of the Academic year.