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As this is a full-time course you need to be available every day across the whole week. You can have up to 4.5 days of teaching in a week, between the hours of 9am and 5pm. We try to schedule teaching as whole days, but you may need to attend some half days too. Whilst you are on placement you are expected to attend full time during the hours of the placement organisation, which is usually between 8.30am- 5.30pm. The course is an intensive programme and there is also an expectation that you will do additional reading and study outside of taught sessions. 

Please Note: You must ensure you are available for these study or placement hours, as the course has an attendance requirement and if you do not attend you may fail modules. Part time arrangements are not available.

The course runs over two full years, as follows:

Year One

• Sept/October start and we aim for all teaching to finish by May in year one. 

Year two

• First placement usually starts in September of year two until December/January
• Dissertation teaching starts in January year two
• Second placement usually starts in April year two and will finish by the end of September. 

Please note that placements can run in University holiday periods.

We do not expect students to find their own placement as we have a dedicated placement team who allocate placements for students on the course. You will not be able to identify your own placement or choose where you are placed. We ensure that placements have been fully audited to ensure that they are offered across a range of providers and service areas, and meet the specific training requirements of the programme. Most placements are within Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland, so please expect that you will be placed in one of these areas. We try to consider travel and caring arrangements where possible, but this is dependent upon the placement opportunities available at the point of allocation. Part time placements are not available.

You may be eligible for a bursary or student finance but you cannot receive both.

The University is allocated a number of bursaries by the NHS Bursary Authority.  This number can vary each year, and we are not necessarily allocated enough bursaries for all students in the cohort.  Therefore, we allocate them on a competitive basis, which is currently based on your overall selection process score (interview, written test and work experience).  We typically are informed how many bursaries we will be offered by the end of August and we then inform those students who will be allocated a bursary as soon as possible. 

It is the responsibility of the student to apply for the NHS bursary and this process can be completed prior to the University informing you that you have been allocated a bursary, you must also meet the eligibility criteria of the NHS Bursary Authority too. If you are not allocated one of the bursaries you are able to apply to Postgraduate Student Finance, however to process your application with them they will want to see evidence that you have applied and been refused an NHS Social Work Bursary. 

More information can be found at the following website:

The role of ‘Social Worker’ is a protected title.  Therefore, to practice as a Social Worker in England you need to apply to register with Social Work England.  Once you have successfully completed all academic and placement modules on the course you will be eligible to apply to the Social Work England Register and they will determine if you meet their criteria to register. 

More information about applying to the Social Work England Register can be found at the following link: