Which courses can I apply for?
Any 30 or 60 point Open University course, up to and including under-graduate level.
This excludes any courses that fall under the following definitions:
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- Courses leading to qualifications linked to licence to practice
- Training or programmes of study intended to meet the employer’s statutory and/or legal responsibilities (e.g. health & safety)
How much can I expect to receive?
Awards are made as follows:
- 60 credit courses = up to £500
- 30 credit courses = up to £250
Points to remember
- Your course must start in the same calendar year as the application is made. For example, if your course starts in 2024 you must apply during 2024
- You can apply before the course starts, and before you have all of the evidence
- There is a limited budget for this scheme and grants are considered on a first-come, first-served basis until the funding is exhausted
- Each member can only receive one UNISON educational grant in each calendar year, up to a maximum of four grants
- Grants are made at the discretion of the Development & Organising Committee
Who can apply?
- Full (employed) members of UNISON
- Retired, student and unemployed members can also apply, providing they were previously full employed members for a minimum of four consecutive weeks
Who isn’t eligible to apply?
- Any member in arrears of subscriptions
- Student members who have never been full (employed) members
- Any member in the first four weeks of membership
- Any member who has received four previous UNISON education grants
- Any member already in receipt of financial support toward their course fees (student loans and maintenance grants do not fall under this category)
How to apply
Application is via an online form supported by emailed electronic evidence documents.
The application form doesn’t allow for saving your work and returning to it so it’s important that you read the summary of the form at the end of this document and make sure you have everything ready before you begin.
Once you are ready you can complete and submit the form. The timeline below outlines what to expect once your form is received
Please note that we cannot process your application until we have received your completed application form, proof of your registration and of payment of course fees, and your BACS details.
¹ If you haven’t heard from us within two weeks of submitting an application please get in touch on l.organising@unison.co.uk to make sure it has been received
² Your evidence documents should be sent by email to l.organising@unison.co.uk
Evidence documents required
When completing the application form you will be prompted to send evidence of your enrolment and payment of fees. The specific proof required is shown below. Please note that you are also able to submit evidence after completing the form but must provide a date by which you intend to send us the evidence.
What should I provide as proof of payment?
- If you are in receipt of a student finance loan for your course fees please send a copy of your student finance letter/agreement, including the date the letter was issued, the academic year the loan is for and the details of your course
- If you are paying the full course fees directly in advance, please send proof of payment including details of the modules you will be undertaking
- If you are paying for your course in instalments, please send proof of payment of any deposit and a copy of the payment plan agreed between you and the course provider, with details of the course/modules you will be undertaking
What should I provide as proof of enrolment?
- A PDF file of your Statement of Academic Record (this can be obtained via the StudentHome portal) OR a screenshot or good quality image upload of the email confirming that your enrolment is complete (usually sent by OU-Mailings@open.ac.uk)
What do I need to have ready before completing the form?
As mentioned above, the application form doesn’t allow for saving your work and returning to it so it’s helpful to have all the information you need ready to input before you follow the link below. The form asks for the following details:
Personal details:
Your name, UNISON membership number; contact details, job title & employer; working hours and the highest level of previous qualification you have obtained. The choices for this last question are:
- Entry and NVQ Level 1 (e.g. GCSEs D-G / CSE levels 2-5 )
- NVQ Level 2 (e.g. GCSEs A-C / CSE 1 / O-Level A-C)
- NVQ Level 3 (e.g. A/AS levels)
- NVQ Level 4 and above (e.g. HNC / CertHE)
- NVQ Level 5 and above (e.g. HND / DipHE)
- NVQ Level 6 and above (e.g. first level degree)
- None
Details of your course:
The course name, provider and duration of the whole course. If the course lasts more than a year you will also need to tell us which year you are applying for.
You will also need to tell us the start and end date of either the course or the year/module you are currently applying for, as well as the fee paid for this part and the number of credits the module is worth.
Finally, we will ask you for a brief statement on why you would like to study this particular course. This needn’t be longer than a paragraph or so, and can be briefer, it’s just to give us an idea of why you’re interested in studying.
Once you have all your information to hand please follow the link below to complete and submit your form