Placement year and Money Issues for Undergraduate Students

What are the Aston Placement Allowance and Aston Placement Bursary?
All Home and EU fee paying students who are undertaking a placement year in 2012/13 and have to pay tuition fees for their placement year can be awarded the Placement Allowance. It is a £1000 grant from the University which you do not have to repay.  The placement allowance is not assessed on your family income and all home and EU students can receive the full £1000. If you do not have to pay tuition fees to Aston for your placement year (for example if you have been awarded an ERASMUS fee waiver) then you will not receive the Placement Allowance.

If you are undertaking an unpaid placement or a placement overseas then you can also receive an additional £500 Placement Bursary. This is also not assessed on your family’s income and all eligible students can receive the full £500. If you do not have to pay tuition fees to Aston for your placement year (for example if you have been awarded an ERASMUS fee waiver) then you cannot receive the Placement Bursary.

How can I apply for the Aston Placement Allowance and Placement Bursary and
when will I receive payments?
You do not have to apply for the Placement Allowance or Placement Bursary. However, because they are paid automatically to Home and EU students through Student Finance England and Student Finance Services, it means that you do need to make an application for 2012/13 to Student Finance England if you are a home student or to Student Finances Services if you are an EU student. This does not mean that you have to apply for a Tuition Fee Loan or other living costs funding if you do not want to do so but if you do not have a record showing your correct bank details with Student Finance England or Student Finance Services for 2012/13, then you won’t receive the Allowance or Bursary. 

Placement Allowances and Placement Bursaries are automatically awarded to students and you should expect to receive a notification letter around December 2012. Awards are paid into students’ bank accounts in two 50% instalments. The first will be paid towards the end of Term Two and the second will be paid towards the end of Term Three. 

If you have any problems with your Placement Allowance or Placement Bursary then please contact the Advice Zone in The Hub on 0121 204 4007 or by email at thehub@aston.ac.uk.

Students are not exempt from paying Income Tax but you may find that you do not earn enough money to pay this tax during your placement year. 

The earnings allowance for Income Tax for all UK residents is £7745 in the tax year 12/13. Any amount of money you earn which exceeds this will be taxed at a rate of 20%.  Your earnings in any tax year will include interest from savings and all employment (including part jobs you may have done before you started your placement.) The Tax year in the UK starts on 6^th April each year which will mean that your placement will actually fall into two different tax years. At the end of the tax year, your placement employer should give you a P60 which will confirm what your earnings were for the tax year 2012/13 and how much tax you paid.  Once you finish your placement, your employer should give you a P45 which will confirm how much you have earned so far in the tax year 2012/13 and how much tax you will have paid.

Although you will often find that you placement employer calculates your tax correctly for the first part of your placement, many students end up paying too much tax during the second part of their placement. However, you can claim a tax overpayment back from the HMRC by completing a form using information you will find on your P60 and P45. You can collect Tax reclaim forms from The Hub and one of our advisers can help you to complete the form if you wish.