Stipend Payment Information
Information about stipend payments
Information for PGR students who are to receive studentship stipend payments
There are a few steps involved in getting to the point that a stipend can be paid to a student's UK bank account; these are described in detail below.
Key things to note
- The IGS is only responsible for submitting the paperwork / payment requests to the Central Finance Support team; they are not responsible for raising a payment in the P&M system and this can only be done by the relevant Central Finance Support team.
- During peak times (e.g. September and October) the Central Finance Support team will receive a very large number of payment requests from across the University and so stipend payment processing times may be up to 20 working days from the date the IGS team are able to submit the payment request to the Finance Helpline.
- Stipend payments are paid monthly in advance (not arrears) and any change requests (e.g. temporary payment suspensions, payments extensions) must be submitted by the 12th of the month to which the change is to occur.
Every student needs to complete the registration and matriculation process in order to be a “Fully Matriculated” student.
Students should have been sent a link to appropriate guidance about the online registration / matriculation process approximately 4 weeks before they were due to commence studies.
- Complete online registration
- Confirm your attendance, in person, with the Informatics Graduate School (INF 3.42).
- Complete the (in person) International Check In process with the University's Student Immigration Service (students on a student visa only).
University guide to completing the matriculation process
Before any payments can be paid, students must be in "Fully Matriculated" status - delays in completing matriculation will delay the processing of a stipend payment.
The University of Edinburgh only pays PGR stipend payments into a UK BACS compliant bank account.
New PGR students who don't already have a UK BACS compliant bank account should open an account in their own name as soon as possible.
Detailed information is available on the University's Open a UK Bank Account webpages.
PGR students who are to receive stipend payments, and who have a UK bank account in their own name, need to complete the “Non-taxable Studentship/Scholarships Form” (aka the Form 98b) and submit it to the IGS.
Paper forms can also be printed and collected from the IGS office, INF 3.42.
Please submit the form by email to igs@inf.ed.ac.uk or deliver it in person to the IGS office, INF 3.42.
Note that the completed form must either
- contain a “wet signature” i.e. signatures that are hand-written. This is because typed electronic signatures will not be accepted by the Finance Ops department - forms submitted with typed signatures from personal email addresses will be returned for correction and resubmission; OR
- be sent from your official University SMS email address (we strongly recommend this as the preferred option as it is the safest and most secure way of sending us this information given the nature of the data being sent). Forms sent from your University SMS email account also do not need a wet signature.
You must have a status of fully matriculated before this step of the process can be accessed and submitted. If you are not fully matriculated, refer to back to Student Step 1.
New students must provide the University with their UK bank details and University email address. This can be done with the “Finance - Add or Amend My Email Address or Bank Details on My Student Record” form. Simply click on the link below and login to your My Ed account to access this form. Complete your details and submit the form.
Accounts Payable will review and update your email address and bank details, ready for future payments (they will contact you via your UUN@ed.ac.uk email address if there are any issues).
Visit https://edin.ac/finance-student-email-bank-details to enter your University email address and UK bank details for the first time.
You will need to provide your email address, 6 digit sort code and 8 digit bank account number to allow Accounts Payable to update their records and to allow future payments to be made direct to your bank. N.B. The UK Bank Name should be the name that the bank account is registered in, as shown on your bank card.
Before any payments can be made, students must submit their bank details to their student account - delays in completing this step will delay the processing of a stipend payment.
Once each student has completed the above steps and tasks, the IGS will be able to start the process of requesting and organising the payment of the stipend. This is summarised below.
Every new student needs to be set up as a "Supplier" in the P&M system. Once each student has completed Steps 1 - 4, the IGS will submit the "Student Supplier Creation" and the Form 98B to the Finance Helpline.
During peak times (e.g. Sept and October) it may take up to 10 working days from the date the IGS makes the request, to be provided with the supplier number.
Only when a student has been issued with a unique P&M Supplier number, can the IGS move to complete Steps 6 and 7.
Only once a student has been given a unique P&M supplier number can the IGS submit the "One off payment" request to the Finance Helpline.
The first payment that will be paid will be a block payment of 3 x monthly stipend amounts (e.g. £17668 / 12 x 3 = £4416.99). For students commencing in September 2022, for example, this first payment covers stipend payments for Sept-22, Oct-22 and Nov-22.
During peak times (e.g. Sept and October) it may take up to 20 working days from the date the IGS submits the payment request, for the payment to be processed by the Accounts Payable team.
After making the request for the "one-off" payment of the block stipend payment, the IGS will submit a "reoccurring payment request" to the Finance Helpline.
This is the request to get the regular monthly stipend payments scheduled in the P&M system.
Monthly payments start from month 4 onwards, so if a student commenced programme on 01 Sept 2022, the first monthly payment would be paid at the end of Nov 2022 (because monthly payments are made in advance, and not arrears). More detail is provided in the "Stipend Payment Schedules" section.
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE Step 8 - Process the payment request via P&M / make payment to student bank account
Once the IGS has submitted the relevant payment request to the Finance Helpline, it will be picked up and processed by the Central Finance Accounts Payable team.
All stipend payments are paid by BACS bank transfer, so the exact date the credit arrives in an account may vary depending on the Bank receiving the credit.
Stipend payment schedules
A typical payment schedule for a student who commences programme on 01 Sept 2022 is below.
Note that the monthly stipend payments are paid in advance (not arrears), so a monthly payment made at the end of November (for example) is the stipend payment for the month of December.
Programme start month | Payment schedule | Payment date | ....for months |
September | Initial block payment of 3 x monthly stipends. |
Variable, depending on the speed at which the central Finance team provide supplier numbers to the IGS, and how quickly they process the one-off payment request. However, we would reasonably expect the initial bulk payment to be paid into a student's bank account within 20 working days of the IGS submitting that payment request. |
Sept, Oct and Nov 2022 |
Monthly in advance | end of November 2022 | December 2022 | |
Monthly in advance | end of December 2022 (normally paid early to account for the festive closure period) | January 2023 | |
Monthly in advance | end of January 2023 | February 2023 |
FAQs
Stipend payments are always paid in advance and at the end of the month, for the month ahead (e.g. a stipend payment made at the end of November, is for the month of December). If you are expecting a monthly stipend payment, the credit should be received between 23rd and 28th of the month.
Things to note:
- Accounts Payable pay monthly stipend payments by BACS bank transfer (and not via HR Payroll as it was previously). Because BACS transfers are influenced by the time scales at which individual banks credit BACS payments to individual bank accounts, there will likely be variation in the exact date stipend payments arrive in an individuals' bank accounts.
- Accounts Payable have advised that they arrange stipend payments so that it should always be in a student’s account by the 28th of the month (note that the exception is in December, which always has an earlier pay date due to the Christmas closure period).
An electronic remittance advice should be issued to your UoE student SMS email account confirming that funds are on their way. Remittance advice slips should be received at least the day before the funds reach your bank.
(Remittance advice slips should be issued/emailed for all types of student payments, not just stipends).
If you believe that you should have received a stipend payment but it has not been received / deposited in your bank account by the end of day on 28th of the month:
- Please get in touch with the University’s finance support team via the online form or through the dedicated email address student.payment.enquiries@ed.ac.uk
The University’s finance support team will acknowledge your email as soon as they can and aim to rectify the issue within 48 hours, wherever possible.
We have been advised that the University’s finance support team will proactively inform the relevant School PGR team of the specific cases they are investigating, however, if you do raise a case directly with the Accounts Payable team, we would also advise that you inform the IGS Finance Administrator of the escalation too by cc'ing in IGS@inf.ed.ac.uk.
If you receive a stipend payment which you believe should not have been paid (e.g. you recently went on a programme interruption and were advised your stipend payments would be temporarily suspended) then you should report this immediately.
- Please get in touch with the University’s finance support team via the online form or through the dedicated email address student.payment.enquiries@ed.ac.uk
The University’s finance support team will acknowledge your email as soon as they can and aim to rectify the issue within 48 hours, wherever possible.
We have been advised that the University’s finance support team will proactively inform the relevant School PGR team of the specific cases they are investigating, however, if you do raise a case directly with the Accounts Payable team, we would also advise that you inform the IGS Finance Administrator of the escalation too by cc'ing in IGS@inf.ed.ac.uk.
It is highly likely that you will be required to return the incorrectly paid funds to the University, so you should not spend any of those funds whilst the case is being investigated and resolved.
Policy on early thesis submission and stipend payments following thesis submission
On occasion, a PGR student might be in a position to submit their thesis for examination a few months before their funding is due to end. In this event, the School follows the UKRI TGC 6.2 on early submission, regardless of the source of stipend funding.
- UKRI TGC 6.2 Early Submission - Students may submit their thesis prior to the end of their award. Where the Student continues to undertake work that is directly linked to their thesis, it is permissible to continue their funding from the (Training Grant) until the end of the quarter in which the thesis is first submitted. Where the Student submits on or after the original end date of their award, funding must cease on the original award end date.
- The quarters run from Sept - Nov, Dec-Feb, Mar-May, Jun-Aug.
- Stipend payments can not be paid post thesis submission to support activities that are not related to the award of academic credit. Such activities would include, for example (but not limited to): teaching related activities (lecturing, tutoring, demonstrating or marking), working on research publications, working on a research related to the activities/output of a separate research grant/project, undertaking a period of internship (either internally or externally) or employment.
- Stipend payments cannot be used/paid to support the thesis amendment period.