HEP bulletin - March 2026

Last updated: 30 Mar 2026

Registration and attendance confirmations

Please submit any outstanding registration or attendance confirmations for academic year (AY) 2025/26 autumn and winter start courses as soon as possible.

Please follow up all registrations with the appropriate attendance confirmation. You should not have any registered students who still have previous or current terms without an attendance code.

Please also make sure to clear your Change of Circumstance worklists. Check your attendance worklists for any overdue confirmations from previous academic years. Students may reappear on your lists after a reassessment.

If the reassessment details are correct, please reconfirm attendance to accept the change. This will allow us to recover any outstanding overpayments.

If the reassessment details are incorrect, please contact the Partners Support Desk so we can update these.

Please continue to prioritise these actions to help minimise overpayments.

Course collection for AY 2026/27

You should now have updated all full time undergraduate courses for AY 2026/27. If any courses remain outstanding while you await final details, please inform your HEP Account Manager.

Unsaved courses will not be visible to applicants. Please advise students not to submit their funding applications until you've saved the course.

If the CMS team contacts you about course details or validation, please respond as quickly as possible.

Updating courses on Courses Management Service (CMS) for AY 2026/27

You should now have updated all your full time undergraduate courses and postgraduate master's courses for Scotland domiciled students on our CMS. Please prioritise any that remain outstanding.

You can find guidance on how to submit your courses on the HEP Services website.

Part time undergraduate courses

You can now update your part time undergraduate courses for all domiciles. The deadline for completion is 17 April. You do not need to add part time courses available only for Scottish domiciled students to CMS. SAAS receives the study‑mode information directly from the student’s SAAS application.
You can find guidance on creating part time undergraduate courses on the HEP services website.

Postgraduate courses

We've rolled over postgraduate master’s and doctoral courses for Student Finance England and Student Finance Wales for AY 2026/27.

Please update these by 10 April so they are available when applications open in May. The deadline for updating postgraduate courses for Northern Ireland is 17 April. 
The SAAS application service for Scottish master’s students opens on 1 April.

Tuition fee updates

Maximum full time undergraduate tuition fees have increased from £9,535 to £9,790, depending on provider category. This applies to both new and returning students.

Please take extra care when entering tuition fees in CMS for AY 2026/27. We recommend using the OfS fee‑limit update tool, particularly when reviewing fee limits for placement or study‑abroad courses.

Maximum full time undergraduate tuition fees for classroom‑based foundation years remain at £5,760. This is dependant on provider category and the course’s HECoS codes. Please make sure you enter the correct foundation year fees for AY 2026/27. Further information on the relevant HECoS codes is available on GOV.UK.

Bursary Administration Service (BAS) updates

BAS exports

In February, we advised that the updated BAS platform would offer only one export option, Full Service Extended, from the student list. Following feedback from several providers, we'll now keep all three export formats at launch this summer: 

  • Core
  • Full
  • Full Service Extended
Although each export contains the same data, the column order varies, which had caused issues for some external IT suppliers. We hope to reduce disruption by keeping all three formats to begin with while you adapt to the updated platform.

BAS invoicing

The latest BAS invoicing period closed on 28 February. We began issuing invoices for subscription costs covering 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026 during the week commencing 23 March. Payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date.

For providers paying by Direct Debit, we'll collect payment automatically on 18 April, as long as a valid Direct Debit mandate is in place.

Full time undergraduate applications now open (SFE, SFW, SFNI and tuition‑fee only funding)

Applications for new and continuing full time undergraduate students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland are now open for AY 2026/27. This includes tuition fee only funding. Please encourage students to apply early to ensure their funding is in place for the start of term. Continuing students must re‑apply through their online accounts.

Students can apply even if their course place is not yet confirmed. They should submit details for their preferred course and update it later if needed.

Last chance to book – LLE CMS training events

This is your last chance to book a place at our in person LLE CMS training events designed for colleagues responsible for CMS course uploads. 

Each event includes workshops on:
  • LLE course eligibility
  • Interpreting the LLE CMS service definition
  • Uploading courses to CMS
Please register no more than two delegates per provider. Locations and registration details can be found on our SLC events page.