Supporting an application for student finance
Undergraduate finance

Information for parents and partners

You might be asked to give us information to allow us to use your income if your child or partner has applied for student finance. We’ll use this to work out how much student finance they can get.


Giving us your details

Once your child or partner has applied for student finance, you’ll get an email with a link to give us your details.

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).

To find your National Insurance number if you’ve misplaced it download the HMRC app.

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.

If you didn’t get an email to support your child or partner’s application, follow the steps on our ‘How to’ guide to support an application with your household income details.

We also have more information on supporting your child or partner’s student finance application.

If you’re supporting your child’s application

Your household income is the total of:

  • your income
  • your partner’s income, if you live with them (even if you did not live with them during the previous tax year)
  • the student’s unearned income, for example from savings, investments or property

If you’re supporting your partner’s application

Your household income is the total of:

  • your income
  • the student’s income, if you live with them (even if you did not live with them during the previous tax year)

Submitting evidence

Don’t send us your P60 or Tax Return, if you do, this could delay the student’s application.

You usually don’t need to send us evidence of your household income as we check your details with HMRC. We may contact you to ask for evidence of your:

  • marital status, if you’re separated or divorced
  • income, if you’re living abroad or finalising your current year income assessment
  • payments made to private pensions or additional voluntary contributions

We’ll tell you what evidence you need to submit.

Changing your details

You must tell us if:

  • you made a mistake
  • your circumstances change, such as your marital status or if you have another child

Do this by submitting a form:

Contacting us

If you contact us, we cannot discuss anything about your child or partner without their permission. Find out how they can give us permission.