RCN Foundation Professional Bursary Scheme

Are you about thinking of taking a course to improve your skills?

Grants of up to £1,600 are available to support your continuous professional development. Laptops and books are now considered eligible costs. Should your application be successful, a proof of purchase will be required prior to grant payment.

To apply, you must be undertaking a UK accredited course that starts between September 2026 and September 2027. Please do not apply if your course falls out of these dates.

To apply for the funding, you need to be either a:

• UK registered nurse
• UK registered midwife
• Healthcare support worker
• Direct entry nursing associate in the UK (not apprentice nursing associates)
• Maternity assistant
• Care worker 

Student nurses and nurse apprentices are not eligible to apply. 

Funding for cancer nurses

Following a successful funding partnership with DKMS, the international charity dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and blood disorders, we are encouraging UK registered nurses to apply for oncology and haematology courses to help advance their continuous professional development 

Additional information

A key focus area for the RCN Foundation is addressing health inequalities and we are interested to receive applications from geographical areas in the UK that have high levels of health inequalities.

For more information, please look at our updated FAQs section.

How to apply

To apply for the RCN Foundation Professional Bursary Scheme, click here.

Applications close at 5pm on 13 May.

Please note: once you start an application it will automatically save and you can return to complete it at any time. However, once you reach section 9 you will no longer be able to go back to your application so please make sure you complete all sections before progressing to section 9.

This education grant may close early if we receive a high volume of applications. All applications will be reviewed after the closing date.