Guidance

Residential Bursary Fund (RBF) data return 2023 to 2024: guidance for completing the digital form

Updated 14 October 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction 

This document aims to help you complete the digital collection form for the Residential Bursary Fund (RBF). 

Use this form to report how you used your RBF allocation provided by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in the 2023 to 2024 academic year (1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024).  RBF funding is intended to provide financial help towards the accommodation costs of students attending one of the designated institutions delivering specialist provision. This data return will be analysed and used to reconcile RBF funding. We will recover any unspent funds as they cannot be carried forward to future years. 

More information on RBF is detailed in the ‘Residential Bursary Fund 2023 to 2024’ guidance. 

2. Who is this publication for 

This guide is for institutions who received RBF funding in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. 

3. When to complete your submission  

The deadline to complete and submit your form is 5pm on Friday, 25 October 2024. 

Submissions can be amended up until the deadline. It will not be possible to grant any extensions. 

4. Accessing the form  

Access the RBF 2023 to 2024 data collection digital form to complete your return.  

4.1 Before you start 

Before you start the submission process, please ensure that you have:  

• a DfE Sign-in account 
• the number of students awarded RBF for each sector subject area (for example, engineering or philosophy) 
• the reasons for supporting students in subjects other than designated specialist provision 
• the total RBF spent on accommodation support 
• the number of students awarded RBF living in term-time lodgings off campus 
• the RBF spent on any offsite travel costs and the number of students receiving RBF for travel costs 
• the total spent on administering the RBF 
• reasons for any overspend 

4.2 DfE Sign-in 

Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account 

Follow the below steps to access your DfE Sign-in (DSi) account: 

1. Access the RBF data collection digital form and, when prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (your username and password) for authentication. 

2. Choose the organisation for whom you are completing the form for – this is only required if your DSi account is linked to several organisations. 

3. The next page will display the details we hold about the institution you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address and URN or UKPRN of the institution, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into the account. 

4. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to go to the next page. 

5. if you believe these details are incorrect, please contact the Customer Help Portal and we will investigate. You can still proceed with your submission. 

Your account must be connected to the institution you are completing the form for. You do not need to add any services in DfE Sign-in, it is used only for authentication. 

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account  

You will need to create one by following steps 1 to 5 below:  

1. Select ‘create a DfE Sign-in account’ on the DfE Sign-in page. 

2. Enter your name and email address (use a valid business email address that contains your name). 

3. We will send you an email to verify your email address; copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page. 

4. Create a memorable password that is at least 14 characters. A good way to create a secure and memorable password is to use 3 random words. You can use numbers, symbols and spaces. 

5. Sign in using your new credentials, and request access to the organisation for which you would like to submit the form. 

Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account

To add a new organisation to your account, follow the steps below: 

1. Login to your DfE Sign-in account. 

2. Select ‘Organisations’. 

3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’. 

4. Enter the URN or UKPRN of the organisation you would like to add. 

5. Select the organisation from search results. 

6. Select ‘Confirm’. 

Your request will be sent to the approver of that organisation.  

An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually an administrator or a senior manager. 

For security reasons, you will need the authorisation of one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form. 

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under the ‘Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account’ section to complete the form. 

4.3  If you need further assistance   

For problems using the DfE Sign-in service, use our DfE Sign-in help service to request assistance. When raising a support request, select ‘other.’  

If you encounter problems accessing the form, use our Customer Help Portal. 

5.  Complete the form  

Once authenticated through DfE Sign-in, you will find a ‘save and continue’ button on each page which will take you to the next page. If you sign out or leave the form opened for an extended period before submitting, you can resume your submission when you sign back in. 

Once you have submitted the form, you will be advised of next steps and will receive an email confirmation of your submission with a link to download a PDF copy of your submission.  This link will expire after 6 months so you should download a copy as soon as possible. 

You can edit and resubmit your form until the submission deadline. 

5.1  Your details  

We will show you the information we hold about your organisation when you sign into the form. 

5.2 Your RBF funding for the 2023 to 2024 academic year 

This read-only page shows your residential bursary funding for the 2023 to 2024 academic year. 

If you have any questions about your allocated funding, you can contact us via the Customer Help Portal. You can still continue to complete your data return. 

5.3 Specialist sector subject area 

RBF is intended to support students who are participating in a designated specialist subject area.  To help us monitor the use of RBF and ensure it is in line with the policy intention, complete all that apply to give data on the number of students receiving RBF in each of the individualised learner record (ILR) T2 subject areas. 

Only count students that received RBF from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024 (inclusive).  Your answer must be based on the core subject aim the student is enrolled on, and the reason why they were awarded RBF. 

Enter zero (0) where a subject area does not apply. 

5.4 Other sector subject areas (2 pages) 

We have asked how many students were awarded RBF in other sector subject areas, such as economics and geography. This helps us to monitor the use of RBF and ensure it is in line with the policy intention. 

If you have supported students in other areas, we will ask you a follow-up question to explain why you assessed the use of RBF appropriate. 

5.5 Accommodation support 

Enter your total RBF expenditure on accommodation support from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024.   

Enter zero (0) where no spent made on accommodation support. 

5.6 Off campus travel costs 

If you indicate that all, or some, of your RBF supported students were living off-campus, then you will be asked questions about their travel costs. This includes the number of RBF students living off-campus, and travel costs to and from offsite accommodation. We expect a value no greater than 15% of your total RBF allocation for travel costs; this will be capped at £25,000. 

5.7 Spend on administration 

Enter the amount you have spent on administration of the RBF from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024. We expect a value no greater than 5% of your total RBF allocation. 

5.8 Total RBF spend 

This read only page will show you your total RBF expenditure in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. This is a combination of your input of accommodation support spend, travel costs, and administration costs. 

If your spend exceeds your allocation, you will be asked to explain why on the next page.   

5.9 Declarations page 

You must complete the declarations. You will not be able to submit your form without completing this section fully. 

5.10 Submission summary 

The summary page allows you to check your answers before submitting the form. You can change your answers using the ‘Change’ link that appears next to each data entry. 

You can also save this summary by selecting ‘Save summary as PDF’ before you submit. Alternatively, you can download it by following the steps below: 

1. On the summary page, select ‘File’ and then ‘Print’. A new window will open. 

2. From the dropdown menu, select ‘Save as PDF’. 

3. Select ‘Save’. 

We cannot accept a PDF summary of your answers as proof of submission. You must still submit the form. 

You must select ‘Submit’ at the bottom of this page and you will receive a unique reference number for your submission to be processed. 

5.11  Confirmation  

The final page confirms your submission and shows a unique reference number. Please make a note of this reference number. 

You will then be sent a confirmation email to the email address that you logged into DfE Sign-in with. This will contain a link to download a PDF of your submission, which is valid for 6 months from the date of your submission. 

Make a note of your unique reference number as we will not include this information in your confirmation email. 

5.12  Amending your submission 

You can make changes to the form and resubmit until 5pm on 25 October 2024. To do this, you will need to sign back in and resubmit your form. 

We cannot grant any extensions to the deadline. 

If you make a second submission, we will take the details of the most recently submitted form and disregard previous versions. 

You will receive a new unique submission reference for an amended submission. 

6. Enquiries  

If you have read this guidance and have questions, contact us via the Customer Help Portal.