GovWire

This guide covers the evidence that students need to provide to prove their identity, as well as evidence that students, parents and partners can submit to prove their household income and marital status.

Watch our step-by-step tutorial on how to upload evidence to your online account!

Upload evidence

Its quick and easy to use your Student Finance account, watch our other How to films for step-by-step tutorials.

If you need to provide evidence of your identity

When you apply for the first time, youll need to provide details or evidence to confirm your identity. Most identity evidence cannot be a digital copy and must be valid on the date we receive it.

When we need to see your original identity evidence, this must be sent via post.

Im a UK national, what can I send?

If you have a valid UK passport, you can give us these details when you apply. If you dont have a valid UK passport, you can:

• upload a copy of your UK birth or adoption certificate (both long and short versions are acceptable) to your online account
• send us a photocopy of your UK birth or adoption certificate (both long and short versions are acceptable)
• send us your original certificate of Naturalisation/Registration

Im an EU/EEA national, what can I send?

If youve been granted a status under the EU Settlement Scheme you need to provide us with a share code to prove your immigration and identity status. You dont need to send us a passport.

If youve not been granted a status under the EU Settlement Scheme then you should send us one of the following:

• original EU/EEA passport
• original National ID card
• original ROI passport card

Im from outside of the UK, EU and EAA, what can I send?

• original non-UK passport
• original Home Office Biometric Residence Card
• original UK travel document
• original certificate of Naturalisation/Registration

Examples of evidence not accepted:

• paper ID cards (this includes Italian paper ID cards)
• UK or non-UK driving licence

Find out what address you need to send your identity evidence to by visiting www.gov.uk/apply-for-student-finance/proof-of-identity

If your parents or partner are asked to provide evidence of their income

We usually dont ask your parents or partner to provide evidence of their income once theyve supported your application, we check their details with HRMC. We may contact your parents or partner to ask for evidence of their:

• marital status if theyre separated or divorced
• income if theyre living abroad or finalising their current year income assessment.

You may also be subject to a random check during the academic year. If this is required, well contact your parents or partner for evidence.

You should only upload financial evidence when weve asked for it. Uploading evidence such as your P60 or Tax Return when this wasnt required will cause delays to the student finance application.

If youre asked for evidence, we accept digital copies as long as theyre clear and readable. The quickest and easiest way to provide financial evidence is by uploading it via your parents or partners online account.

If you or your parents need to provide evidence of marital status

When you first apply for student finance, we may need to confirm your or your parents marital status; to do this we need you to supply evidence.

If you or your parent indicate that youre single, usually well not ask you to provide evidence. Digital copies of evidence are acceptable as long as theyre clear and readable.

If you or your parents indicate the wrong martial status, we may need evidence before we can update your status.

Evidence to prove that youll be under the age of 25 years old at the start of the academic year and married or in a civil partnership

Examples of evidence you can provide to confirm your marital status include:

• marriage certificate
• civil partnership documentation

Evidence to prove that you or your parents are separated, divorced, or have a dissolved civil partnership

Examples of evidence you or your parent can provide to confirm marital status include:

• decree nisi or decree absolute
• final or conditional order
• civil partnership conditional order
• a signed and dated letter from your solicitor confirming your status
• a signed affidavit
• statutory declaration
• most recent Council Tax bill with an acceptable discount

If your or your parents marital status remains the same throughout your studies, well only need this evidence in the first academic year of your course.

The quickest and easiest way to provide marital status evidence is by uploading it via your or your parents or partners online account.

Alternatively, this evidence can be posted to us.

Find out what address to send your evidence to by visiting www.gov.uk/apply-for-student-finance

How long it takes to process your evidence

If youve uploaded evidence via your online account, you can use the application status tracker to find out when to expect an update.

If youve sent evidence via post, this can take up to 6 weeks for us to process and update your online account. To make sure we can process your evidence as quickly as possible, please do not contact us during this time. Well update your online account once it has been processed.

We cannot confirm if weve received identity evidence until after weve processed it. This allows for quicker processing times and makes sure you get your identity evidence back as quickly as possible.

If youve sent your evidence via tracked delivery, you should check the delivery date with the delivery service.