Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to ensure that all asylum seekers can access courses in (a) further and (b) higher education.

Access to post-16 education for asylum seekers is governed by funding rules in further education (FE) and higher education (HE).

In FE, asylum seekers aged 19 and over who have lived in the UK for six months or longer while awaiting the outcome of their application, and no decision on their claim has been made, are eligible to receive funding through the Adult Education Budget (AEB). For asylum seekers aged 16-19, the department will fund those who have applied for asylum as well, as those who have been granted asylum status by the Home Office.

In HE, eligibility requirements for student support usually means that a student resident in England should have ‘settled’ status or a recognised connection with the UK, and have been a resident of the UK, Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course. However, an exception to the three-year ordinary residence requirement is made for students with refugee status and humanitarian protection. This means that immediate access to HE student support is available once a person has been granted refugee status or humanitarian protection by the Home Office.