Information for students with caring responsibilities. 

At King’s College London we recognise that caring responsibilities can have a significant impact on educational opportunities and outcomes, and therefore provide pre-entry and on-course support to student carers.

A young carer is anyone under 18 who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member, who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support.

Below we've described how King’s Social Mobility and Widening Participation Department can support student carers in their journey to university.

We welcome young carers who attend a state school to apply to any of our social mobility and widening participation programmes. Find out more about eligibility for our Widening Participation programmes. 

Whether you want to have a taste of university life, get some tips on the application process, or learn more about the different subjects on offer, then make sure you submit an application to one of our programmes. Find out more about eligibility for our Widening Participation programmes. 

If you have any questions about applying to King’s for undergraduate study (or applying to one of our widening participation activities), you are encouraged to email priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk where you can get information and advice about the application process, or help with navigating King’s admissions, support or funding services.

If you don't feel you quite fit the definition of a young carer but have caring responsibilities, then please visit Student Services Online where you can find out more about the support on offer.

At King’s we don’t just use your grades to assess your application. We recognise that not everyone has the same educational journey and that some students have had to overcome challenges to achieve their grades.

If you have experienced certain barriers which make it harder for you to achieve a course’s standard entry requirements, we will take this into consideration. Find out more about contextualised admissions.

King’s Living Bursary

King's commitment to financially assisting students who need extra funding to complete their studies. Students don’t need to apply for the Bursary and will be contacted automatically as long as they meet the eligibility criteria.

To find out eligibility, the amount, and when you’ll receive it along with other details, please visit our funding opportunities catalogue (details will be published here once applications for the year of entry are open). 

King’s Affordable Accommodation Scheme (KAAS)

King's Affordable Accommodation Scheme is a rent model discussed with student representatives to ensure we maximise the number of rooms that are priced at the lowest possible rates, so that students from more challenging financial backgrounds can still access accommodation. Student carers are one of the vulnerable group students who are prioritised on this scheme. Find out how to apply to King's Affordable Accommodation Scheme. 

Student carers may encounter some difficulties starting or preparing for university that their peers are less likely to experience. They are likely to be worried about how they will cope once at university, so it’s important to make sure they know as early as possible, where to get support.

What King’s currently offers on-course student carers:

• Personal Tutor for academic support
• Prioritisation and encouragement to take up ambassador roles
• Student carers can book an appointment with the Advice & Guidance team for more specialist support e.g. interrupting studies due to caring responsibilities
• You can complete an online form to be kept up to date with information and events for student carers by our Advice & Guidance team
• Access to King’s counselling service
• KCLSU Family Association provides guidance for student carers
• A KEATS discussion board is available for peer support
• The Chaplains are also available across the university for practical and spiritual support

Other sources of support

We recommend taking a look at the Young Carers Trust's website. They have the most up to date resources and advice on anything from legal support and knowing your rights, through to wellbeing and mental health.

The Children's Society website also has lots of useful information and a website specifically for young carers called Include.

The UCAS website also has information about what support is available to carers in higher education and useful tips for carers who want to go to university.

If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact us. Our contact details for each team can be found on our meet the social mobility teams webpage.