Work & Education Fund

You can apply for help with:

1. Training course fees

We can help you cover the costs for certified and highly rated courses which after completion will likely lead to a job or better pay. 

2. Certification and license fees

We can help you update and / or translate non-UK certificates so they can be used as part of making a professional course or job application in the UK.

We can also help renew out of date / soon to be out of date licenses which are needed for work (must be an approved UK licensing body).

3. Qualification conversion fees

We can support you with the costs to convert a qualification (normally a non-UK qualification) into a UK recognised qualification standard.

4. Vocational training courses – up to one year.

To apply, you must be a Muslim living in the UK and be able to demonstrate that you are unable to afford the costs you are applying for help with. To confirm that you can get help, we will look at how much money you have, your monthly income and expenses.

If you are seeking asylum, on a student visa, work permit or have no status in the UK, then you are not able to apply.

Through your application, you will also need to show that you are unemployed or on a low income and you are unable to pay for your basic costs.

The activity you would like to do must start within 3 months of your application.

To apply for help from National Zakat Foundation you must have your own email address, mobile phone number and a device able to connect to the internet.

The amount of help we can give you depends on your circumstances and the activity you would like to do.

Our average grant is £1,000 and the maximum we can give you is £3,000. The help we give is a one-off grant.

The application form takes around 20 minutes to complete.

Once you have you sent us your application with all the information and documents we need, we will give you a decision on your application as soon as possible. You will be able to see an estimated waiting time at the beginning of your application. Please note that waiting times are likely to increase in periods of high demand.

If you do not give us all the information and documents we need to look your application, your application will be delayed and you will have up to 14 days to give us anything you have missed.

Once you have sent us your application, the Work Fund team will make sure that you have given us all the information and documents we need to look at your application and that you are eligible to apply for help. If there is anything you have missed, you will be asked to send it to us within 10 days.

We will then look at how much money you have, your monthly income and expenses to confirm that we can help you. We will also look at the skills and experience you have told us about in your CV and the application form to help us decide if the activity you would like to do will help you to get a job.

If we can give you a grant, we will email you to confirm this and arrange payment. If we cannot give you a grant, we will email you to tell you why.

We can give you one grant from the Work and Education Fund every 2 years.

To apply for help, you will need to give us the following documents:

Photo ID for you, your wife/husband and children under 18

You can give us a copy of a passport, driving licence or other document given to you by the authorities.

Bank statements
We will need 3 full months of bank statements for all your bank accounts. For example, if you send us your application on 2nd January, you will need to give us bank statements for October, November and December.

Your CV

An up to date CV which includes your work and education history, as well as any other information relevant to the activity you would like help with. If you do not have an up to date CV, you can get help here

For help with training courses, certification and license fees, you will also need to give us the following document:

Certificate of highest qualification
If you have any qualifications, we will need a copy of the certificate for your highest qualification you have.

For help with qualification conversion fees, you will also need to give us:

Certificate of existing qualification
We will need the certificate for the qualification you would like to convert.

For courses, certifications, license and conversion fees, your grant will be paid directly to your provider. Before we can do this, you will need to give us an invoice from the provider to make the payment.

Although we may not be able to help everyone who applies to us, we are committed to providing a high-quality service to all our applicants. If something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. We will use the information you give us to help improve our service.

If you are not happy about any part of our service, please contact us via the link at the bottom of this page.

What will happen next?

We will reply to your email to confirm that we have received it within 5 working days.

We will look into your complaint, review any evidence available, and speak to members of staff if appropriate.

We will aim to reply to your complaint within 10 working days. If this is not possible, we will send you an update.

For more information on applying to the Work Fund, please send us a message by clicking on the tab below.

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