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Submit your Residential Bursary Fund data return

Submit your Residential Bursary Fund data return

Important

The Digital Forms Service will be unavailable due to planned maintenance from Friday 3 October to Monday 6 October.

We expect the service to be available again on Tuesday 7 October.

This will not affect submission deadlines. Institutions will not be disadvantaged by being unable to submit during this time.

Use this form to report how your Residential Bursary Fund (RBF) allocation from the Department for Education (DfE) was used during the 2024 to 2025 academic year (1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025).

RBF provides financial support for accommodation costs for students attending designated institutions offering specialist provision. This data return helps us reconcile RBF funding. Unspent funds will be recovered, as they cannot be carried forward to future years.

You must submit your return by 5pm on Friday, 24 October 2025.

Before you start

This service is for further education and sixth-form colleges designated to deliver specialist provision.

To complete your return, you'll need:

  • number of students awarded RBF for each sector subject area (for example, agriculture)
  • total RBF spent on accommodation support
  • number of students awarded RBF living in term-time lodgings off campus
  • total spent on administering the RBF
  • reasons for any overspend

View the Residential Bursary Fund guide (opens in a new tab) for more information.

Sign in with DfE Sign-in

You'll need a DfE Sign-in account to use this service. If you have not used DfE Sign-in before you'll need to create an account (opens in new tab) and link it to your organisation.

If you have questions

Contact us through the Customer Help Portal (opens in new tab)

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