This campaign focuses on the exclusion of pharmacy students from the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF), a financial support package that is available to many other healthcare students studying in England.
What is the NHS Learning Support Fund?
The NHS LSF is designed to support healthcare students with the rising costs of living, travel, and clinical placements while studying. It provides essential financial assistance that enables students to focus on learning rather than financial stress.
Currently, pharmacy students are excluded from this funding, despite studying demanding healthcare degrees. This creates an unfair disparity between pharmacy students and other healthcare students who are eligible for LSF support.
Why this matters more than ever
The exclusion of pharmacy students from the LSF is becoming increasingly unjustifiable due to significant changes to the MPharm degree.
With the introduction of independent prescribing requirements, pharmacy education has evolved. MPharm courses now include:
- More clinically focused learning
- An increased number of placements
- Greater placement-related costs, including travel and accommodation.
These changes mean pharmacy students are facing higher financial pressures, without access to the same support that other healthcare students receive. Whilst pharmacy students have access to the Travel and Dual Accommodation (TDAE) part of the LSF following campaigning in 2023-2024, students are still paying upfront costs, which are then reimbursed later by the TDAE.
Pharmacy students deserve fair funding
Pharmacy students play a vital role in the future of healthcare services. As the profession takes on expanded clinical responsibilities, funding structures must keep pace with these changes.
Providing pharmacy students with access to the NHS Learning Support Fund would:
- Promote fairness across healthcare education
- Reduce financial barriers to entering and completing the MPharm degree
- Support a sustainable future pharmacy workforce.
Get involved – write to your MP
The PDA’s re-launched ‘Write to Your MP’ tool makes it quick and simple for pharmacists to contact their local MP and ask them to support fair funding for pharmacy students.
Pharmacists, trainees, and students, take action today and use the ‘Write to Your MP’ tool to let local MPs know this is an issue that matters to the pharmacy profession.
Together, by speaking up collectively, pharmacists can push for the recognition and financial support that pharmacy students deserve.
Going above and beyond in the PDA Fair Funding campaign
History shows that campaigns are most successful when people actively participate. Change happens when individuals come together, speak up, and lead within their own communities.
This is an opportunity for pharmacy students to take the Fair Funding campaign forward, raising awareness, encouraging others to act, and leading conversations in Schools of pharmacy, student groups and societies, and local PDA networks and communities.
By getting involved and mobilising others, it helps to strengthen the collective voice calling for fair funding.
Pharmacists, trainees, and students can also:
- Visit their MP
- Send in their testimonial to the PDA
- Get in touch about getting more involved by emailing [email protected]
Learn more
- Fair funding for pharmacy students quick write to your MP campaign tool
- MPharm students secure access to Learning Support Fund
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists, and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.