Widening Participation Funding

Widening Participation

Funding for Widening Participation (WP) activities is provided by HEFCE and allocated as part of annual funding to higher education institutions.

WP aims to address the large discrepancies in take-up of higher education opportunities between different social groups.

Funding for WP is calculated from formulae based on postcode and census ward for each new student entrant. 

Further details and worked examples on WP funding allocation can be found in Annex B (PDF:0.3 MB) from Funding Higher Education in England: how HEFCE allocates its funds, published by HEFCE in September 2008.

Workshop on WP funding premia for London

Recently, some concerns have been raised about the use of postcode information as the basis for calculating WP funding in London.

As a consquence, London Higher organised a workshop in October 2009 with HEFCE and member HEIs to discuss key issues on the application and consequences of WP funding formuale for London.