BDA Benevolent Fund - Dental Student Application Form

Application Submitted As

The BDA Benevolent Fund supports dental students, dentists and their families living in the UK.

Who can use this form?

This form is for undergraduate dental students who are experiencing financial hardship.

To use this form, you must:

currently live in the UK;
be studying on a BDS or BChD course; and
have started your studies.

The BDA Benevolent Fund is independent of the British Dental Association (BDA). You do not need to be a BDA student member to apply.

Apply to your university first

Before applying to us, you must apply to your university’s hardship or financial support fund and receive its decision. We will not consider your application until you have completed this step and provided evidence of the outcome.

Financial hardship

Financial assistance is intended for students experiencing financial hardship who cannot reasonably meet their essential living costs themselves. Before applying, you should use any income, benefits, student finance or savings available to you. We will consider your overall financial circumstances, including your income, essential living costs, student finance, savings and other accessible funds covering the whole academic year (1 September to 31 August).

Before you begin

As part of your application, you will need to provide evidence of your student status and financial circumstances. This will normally include:

a certificate of status from your university, dated no more than one week before the date of your application;
your student finance entitlement letter from the relevant student finance body in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, or a matriculation letter;
evidence of the outcome of your application to your university’s hardship or financial support fund;
evidence of any other income or benefits you receive;
PDF statements covering the last three months for every bank, savings and investment account you hold;
PDF statements covering the last three months for every credit card you hold; and

If you are married or living with a partner, we will also need statements and details of income and savings for your partner.

Statements must be the original PDF documents downloaded from your provider. We cannot accept screenshots, photographs or edited documents. If an account has no recent statements, please ask the provider for a formal letter confirming the current balance. Do not combine or merge your documents.

If you do not provide all the information and documents requested, we may be unable to assess your application.

Wellbeing support

Wellbeing support is available free of charge, anonymously and at any time. You do not need to complete an application form.

Visit our wellbeing webpage or access the Wellbeing Support for the Dental Team resource.

If you have any questions, please contact us:

Email: info@bdabenevolentfund.org.uk
Telephone: 020 7486 4994
Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, excluding public holidays

This form can be saved as you complete it and resumed at a later time.

Before submitting, please review all information carefully to ensure it is accurate. Inaccurate information (whether provided intentionally or unintentionally) may result in delays or a decision not to offer financial assistance.

Once submitted, you will receive an automated confirmation that your application has been received. Please note that all fields marked with an * are mandatory; applications missing this information cannot be processed.

Applicant Details

Title

Other (Please specify title)

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

Current Address i.e. Term Time

Town/City

County

Post Code

Contact Number

Date of Birth

I identify my gender as

Other (Please specify gender)

University Details

University Name

Course Name

Year of Course

Are you a?

Is this your first degree?

Have you sought assistance from your University's Hardship Fund?

YesNoAll dental student applicants should apply to (and have the outcome) their university's hardship fund before applying to us. If you have not done this, your application cannot be processed. If you have any queries, please contact the office on 0207 4864994.

If yes, please indicate when

Please enter a date after 1st September 2026

How much were you given?

Supporting Evidence

Please upload your most recent Student Finance letter (from England, Wales, Northern Ireland, or Scotland) for the current academic year. This will help us verify your student status and income. If you are an international student, please upload a matriculation letter or equivalent document.

In addition, all students must upload a current Certificate of Status confirming your enrolment. This should be a PDF and be dated within 2 weeks of your application. Please note that we cannot accept photographs.

⚠️ Important Information

All dental student applicants must have already applied to and received the outcome of their university’s hardship or financial support fund before applying to the BDA Benevolent Fund.

If you have not done this, your application cannot be considered and you will not be able to proceed further.

You may click Previous Page to review your information or check your eligibility.

If you have any queries, please contact the office on 0207 486 4994.

Current Living Situation

Do you have a partner?

Marital Status

Spouse/Partners Current or Previous Occupation

Do you live with anyone in your household?

YesNo

How many people?

Person relationship to you

Age

Is this person dependent on your income

Is anyone else dependent on your income but does not live with you? A dependent is a child, or a partner/ spouse.

YesNo

How many people?

Relationship to you

Age

Current employment

Are you currently working?

YesNo

Current Job title

Address

Date of Employment

Previous Employment (if applicable)
- please provide details of last 2 years employment history

Previous Job Title

Address

Dates of Employment

Financial Information

Do you live in rented accommodation?

YesNo

Do you /your partner own any property? This includes any mortgages

YesNo

Date of purchase

Property Cost

£

Current Value

£

Outstanding Mortgage*

£

* If applicable

Years left to pay

* If applicable

Do you or your partner own, lease or have the use of a vehicle(s)?

YesNoIncluding hire purchase or conditional sale vehicles

Date of purchase

Vehicle Original Cost

£

Current Value

£

Outstanding Amount left to pay*

£

* If applicable

Years left to pay*

* If applicable

Assets (money in credit)

	Total Amount - You	Total Amount - Partner	Monthly Payment - Partner
Current Account	£	£	Add another
Current Account 2	£	£	Add another
Current Account 3	£	£	Add another
Current Account 4	£	£
	£	£	£

Bank statements and financial evidence

To consider your application, we need statements covering the three months immediately before the date of your application for:

every bank and building society account you hold, including current, savings and joint accounts;
all credit cards;
savings and investments; and
any accounts you hold but do not regularly use, including accounts with a zero or overdrawn balance.

If you are married or live with a partner, you must also provide statements covering the same three-month period for all accounts held by your spouse or partner, including their bank accounts, credit cards, savings and investments.

Please provide complete statements showing the account holder’s name, account details, all transactions and balances. Do not submit selected pages or transaction screenshots.

We use these statements to verify the financial information in your application and assess your household’s financial circumstances. We cannot assess your application until all the required statements have been provided.

Important requirements:

File format: The statements must be submitted as a PDF file. We cannot accept Excel files, photos, or screenshots. The files should be original, not annotated.

Details included: The statements must clearly show your full name and address (transaction summaries or screenshots are not accepted for this reason).

How to Download Statements:

If you’re unsure how to download your bank statements, search online for instructions by typing your bank’s name followed by “download bank statements.”

Note: If you do not provide the required documents in the correct format your application form cannot be processed. The number of statements uploaded should reflect the details you have provided on this form i.e. if you have three current/ savings accounts, then you need to upload nine files.

Debts/ liabilities (money owed)

Please detail all the information regarding the money that you owe, giving the total amount owed (the outstanding balance), and how much you are paying this back on a monthly or annual basis. If you aren't paying it back, leave the monthly section blank. Do not include your student loan unless this was taken out as a bank loan.

	Overall outstanding amount	Monthly Payment -You	Monthly Payment-Partner
Current Account Overdraft	£	£	£
Other Account Overdraft	£	£	£
Loan	£	£	£
Loan	£	£	£
Hire Purchase	£	£	£
Credit Card	£	£	£	1 Add another
Credit Card 2	£	£	£	2 Add another
Credit Card 3	£	£	£	3 Add another
Credit Card 4	£	£	£	4 Add another
Credit Card 5	£	£	£	5 Add another
Credit Card 6	£	£	£
Store Card	£	£	£
HMRC	£	£	£
Family/Friends	£	£	£
Rent/Mortgage Arrears	£	£	£
Utility Arrears	£	£	£
Other	£	£	£
	£	£	£

Annual Income (from 1 September - 31 August i.e. this current academic year)

Please take the time to go through this and do not guess this information. We suggest you refer back to your bank statements in order to provide you an accurate picture of your finances. Any discrepancies will be discussed and will delay your request being processed and may affect the decision made. This must be filled out after September for the academic year. We do not consider requests in advance of the next academic year.

	You	Partner
Earned income from working	£	£
Tax credits	£	£
Disability Living Allowance (DLA)	£	£
Personal Independent Payment (PIP)	£	£
Child Benefit	£	£
Child Tax Credit	£	£
Contributions towards Children	£	£
Financial Contribution from Family (i.e. Parents/ Partner/ Grandparents)	£	£
Housing Benefit	£	£
Carer's Allowance	£	£
Other Benefits Total (Please list which ones below)	£	£
Student Loan	£	£
NHS Bursary	£	£
University Hardship	£	£
Payments from Charities	£	£
Other Income Total (Please list more detail below)	£	£
Bursary	£	£
Scholarship	£	£
	£	£

Other Benefits

Other Income

Annual Expenditure (from 1 September - 31 August i.e. this current academic year)

Please take the time to go through this and do not guess this information. We suggest you refer back to your bank statements in order to provide you an accurate picture of your finances. Any discrepancies will be discussed and will delay your request being processed and may affect the decision made. This must be filled out after September for the academic year. We do not consider requests in advance of the next academic year.

	You	Partner
Rent/ mortgage	£	£
Water	£	£
Gas	£	£
Electricity	£	£
Other Household Fuels	£	£
Telephone and Internet	£	£
Mobile	£	£
TV Licence	£	£
Other Television Bills	£	£
Buildings/Contents Insurance	£	£
Childcare	£	£
Child Maintenance or Child Support	£	£
BDA Membership	£	£
Car Insurance	£	£
Road Tax	£	£
MOT and Ongoing Maintenance	£	£
Petrol	£	£
Public Transport	£	£
Food and Housekeeping	£	£
Medicine/Prescriptions	£	£
Course Fees	£	£
Indemnity	£	£
Bank loan Repayments	£	£
Car Finance/ Hire Purchase Repayments	£	£
Credit Card Repayments	£	£
Other Essential Living Costs (Combined Total)*	£	£
Hobbies, Leisure or Sport	£	£
Total	£	£

Please list what your other essential living costs are, if applicable.

What assistance are you seeking and how can we help you?

We deal with all requests on an individual basis as no two situations are the same. We aim to tailor our grants to best match your immediate needs. We support those that are currently facing financial hardship in accordance with out Grantmaking Policy. Financial hardship is defined as having insufficient income and/ or savings to manage your current essential living costs. Please watch our guidance notes video prior to applying to see who and how we help.

Tick the relevant category/categories below and fill out the sections that are applicable to you and provide us with a summary of your current circumstances, specifically how this has led to you approaching us for financial assistance.

Difficulties due to physical or mental ill health including addiction

Further details of physical or mental health

Difficulties within your personal relationships or with your family

Further details of relationship difficulties

Difficulties while at university

Further details of university difficulties

Difficulties at work e.g. with your employer or because of unemployment

Further details of work difficulties

Difficulties with money including unexpected expenditure, debts or problems with cash flow

Further details of financial difficulties

Other

Further details of any other difficulties

What do you feel that the BDA Benevolent Fund can do to assist you with the above? If you haven't already, please watch the guidance video to understand how we help. Please provide a detailed response (minimum 500 characters and maximum 2000 characters) in full sentences explaining the type of support you are seeking and how the BDA Benevolent Fund can assist you so that we understand why you are applying for help. Insufficient information may cause your application to be delayed or refused.

Please provide a detailed response (minimum 500 characters and maximum 2000 characters) explaining the type of support you are seeking and how the BDA Benevolent Fund can assist you.

Signposting

Have you applied to any other charities?

YesNo

Please detail the name of the charity, the date(s) you applied and the support you have been offered (if applicable)

Have you sought advice from any other professional person or organisation?

YesNo

Please detail the name of the person/organisation, the date(s) you contacted them and the support you have been offered (if applicable)

Permissions and Declarations

The BDA Benevolent Fund is committed to safeguarding your privacy and handles all personal information in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Your information will be kept confidential and used only for the purpose of assessing and administering your application, except where disclosure is required by law or professional obligation (for example to regulators, your university, Report Fraud, or the police). Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools may be used as part of our application processing procedures.

For further information about how we collect, use, retain and protect your information, including personal data, please refer to our privacy information, which is available on the website or on request.

Declarations

By ticking the box, I confirm that I have read and understood the following:

The information provided in this form, together with any supporting documents, is accurate and truthful. This reflects Principle 1.3 of the General Dental Council’s Standards for the Dental Team, which requires registrants to act with integrity and not sign documents that are false or misleading or provide information that is dishonest. I understand that providing false, misleading, or incomplete information, including deliberately withholding relevant details or failing to supply requested documents (such as bank statements), may be considered dishonest and may result in my application being refused or withdrawn.
Fraudulent applications may be reported to the General Dental Council, your university (for dental students) to the police and/ or other relevant authorities or regulators.
I will notify the BDA Benevolent Fund of any changes in my circumstances during the application process.
I understand that the BDA Benevolent Fund will process my personal data as necessary for assessing and administering my application. This includes processing based on legitimate interests, contractual obligations or other appropriate lawful bases under the UK GDPR, depending on the nature of the data and the processing activity.
Where I choose to provide special category personal data (such as health information), I give my explicit consent for the BDA Benevolent Fund to process that information for the purposes of assessing and administering my application. I understand that I may withdraw this consent at any time, although this may affect the Charity’s ability to consider my application.

Residency

The country in the world I am resident of (for tax purposes) is

UkOther

Please state the country/ies if other:

To help us please confirm the following

What is the main reason for your application?

Other (Please specify)

How did you hear about our services?

Other (Please specify)

Please click the submit button for your application to be processed.

On the next page you will then be given the opportunity to review and edit the information in your form for a final time prior to submission. It is at this stage you are also given the option to print the form for your records, should you wish to do so. Alternatively, if you do not have access to a printer, you can save the information as a web page by right clicking 'save as' and saving it to your device (ideally as a PDF).

We aim to acknowledge all applications within 3 working days.

If relevant, we will arrange a call to learn more about your situation, to go through any queries and to explain our process.