Guidance

Student Finance England (SFE): Current application timescales

Use this guide to get an estimate of our current timescales and find out when your next expected update on your undergraduate student finance application for 2025 to 2026.

From:
Student Loans Company
Published
27 September 2023
Last updated
1826 August 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

This page is usually updated on a Monday, but some weeks this may change. This page was last updated on MondayTuesday 1826 August at 16:30.15:30.

If you’ve applied for student finance for 2024 to 2025

If you’re still waiting for your application to be approved, there’s no need to contact us. Sign in to your account to find out when to expect your next update on your application or evidence.

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If you’ve applied for student finance for 2025 to 2026

If you’ve recently applied for student finance, we might give you the minimum amount to make sure you have some funding near the start of your course.

How long it takes us to work on your application depends on what you’ve applied for and how many other students are applying at the same time.

If you apply this week for Current timescales are Expect an update from us between
Full-time undergraduate student finance 9 working days Monday 1 September and Friday 5 September
Part-time undergraduate student finance 14 working days Monday 8 September and Friday 12 September
Childcare Grant, Parents’ Learning Allowance or Adult Dependants’ Grant 14 working days Monday 8 September and Friday 12 September

Remember to check the progress of your application using your student finance account.

If you’ve sent us evidence or made a change to your application

If you’ve sent evidence to help us work out how much you can get, or you’ve told us that your circumstances have changed, the table below shows when you should expect an update from us.

If you send us information or evidence this week about Current timescales are Expect an update from us between
your financial information, including the PFF2 form 9 working days Monday 1 September and Friday 5 September
a change in your circumstances 14 working days Monday 8 September and Friday 12 September
Childcare Grant, Parents’ Learning Allowance or Adult Dependants’ Grant 14 working days Monday 8 September and Friday 12 September

If you’ve uploaded evidence or made a change to your application, your student finance account might not update straight away. We’ll update it once we’ve actioned your change or reviewed your evidence.

If you’ve applied for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA)

If you’ve applied for DSA, sent us evidence, or emailed us about your DSA application, the table below shows when you should expect an update from us.

This week, if you’ve sent us Current timescales are Expect an update from us between
a DSA application 810 working days Monday 258 AugustSeptember and Friday 2912 AugustSeptember
medical evidence 810 working days Monday 258 AugustSeptember and Friday 2912 AugustSeptember
a Needs Assessment report 68 working days Monday 251 AugustSeptember and Friday 295 AugustSeptember
a claim for expenses 23 working days Monday 1825 August and Friday 2229 August
an email 108 working days Monday 1 September and Friday 5 September

There’s no need to contact us once you’ve sent something. We’ll update you by email as soon as we’ve reviewed it, so make sure your contact details are up to date. Keep checking your email inbox for our replies and remember to check your junk or spam folders too!

Updates to this page

Published 27 September 2023
Last updated 1826 August 2025 + show all updates

  2. Timescales have been updated

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