Supporting your child's or partner’s student finance application


If your child or partner is applying for student finance, we may ask you to give us your details so we can use your household income to work out how much they can get. This is so they can get the maximum amount that they’re entitled to.

After they’ve applied we’ll send you an email to support their application. You should follow the instructions in the email to support their application online - don't send us a P60, unless we ask you for it.

1. Sign in to or create your student finance account

You’ll need to create an online account (opens in a new tab) for yourself.

Don't use your child or partner’s account to tell us your details, you must use your own separate account. If you and your partner are both supporting an application, your partner will also need to create or sign in to their own separate online account (opens in a new tab).

If you’ve supported an application previously or you’ve applied for student finance in the past, you should sign into your existing online account (opens in a new tab). Don’t worry if you’ve forgotten your login details, you can reset them on the login page.

If you’re supporting an application that has already been approved

If the student has applied late, we may automatically approve them for the minimum amount of student finance, to ensure they have some money for near the start of their course. This means you may not be able to link to the student's application through your online account (opens in a new tab).

If they still want to apply for the higher amount of Maintenance Grant, you should give us details to allow us to use your household income by uploading a PFF2 form (Download PDF 355KB, opens in a new tab) to your online account instead.

What to do if you don't get an email from us

You should be able to link to the student’s application and give us your details online by typing in their Customer Reference Number. Follow the instructions on our ‘how to’ guide to support an application with your household income details'.

If you’re unable to link to the student’s application online, you can upload a PFF2 form (Download PDF 355KB, opens in a new tab) to your account instead.

2. Giving us your details

From 6 November, you’ll be asked to give us your National Insurance number to support an application, so we can check your income details with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

We’ll check your household income for the tax year:

  • 2022-23 if you’re supporting a student’s 2024 to 2025 application
  • 2021-22 if you’re supporting a student’s 2023 to 2024 application

We use this tax year as it’s the most up to date information HMRC holds for everyone.

You’ll need to let us know if you’ve:

  • paid into private pensions
  • made additional voluntary contributions
  • children (other than the student) who depend on you financially

If you don't have a National Insurance number, then you’ll need to complete a paper form and provide supporting documents to show how much you’ve earned.

Don’t send us a P60 instead of giving us your income details.

If you do and we haven’t requested one, it will take us longer to process the student’s application. This could result in your child or partner getting less money than they were expecting at the start of their course.

3. After you’ve supported the application

Once you’ve submitted your income details, it can take us up to 6 to 8 weeks to process them and work out how much student finance they can get. As soon as we’ve done this, we’ll let the student know.

If we need anything else from you, we’ll email you to let you know.

Further information

You can find out more about the types of evidence we can accept and how to send it by visiting our evidence guidance page.

Find out more information on supporting a student finance application or if your income changes later in the year.