Money and practical advice

Welfare Advisers provide confidential and specialist support for all Queen Mary students, applicants and offer holders. We have specialist training to offer you professional advice on a range of financial, practical and legal issues. We are members of, and accredited by, the National Association of Student Money Advisers. The accreditation is re-assessed each academic year to ensure that advisers continue to attend regular training and development.  

Our aim is to advise you about possible solutions and options relating to these issues, so that you can concentrate on your academic progress. As well as helping you to find solutions to problems, we can also give you information and advice to help you to avoid problems before they happen. For example, we can help you to plan a budget, and check that you are getting all the funding that you are entitled to.  

Our advice to you will be based on your individual needs and priorities. This means that you control the process and we will not impose decisions on you. Our role is to explain your rights and any options and solutions available to you, and you can then choose what to do. 

We will usually offer you advice and information about your rights and entitlements so that you can pursue options or achieve solutions yourself. However, sometimes you will need our help to achieve a solution. If this happens, we can advocate on your behalf with your permission; for example, contacting Student Finance England to challenge a decision. We can also contact other staff at Queen Mary on your behalf if you would like us to. There might not be a solution to your situation. If this happens, we will advise you about the implications of your situation and options that you might need to consider. 

The advice we give you is based on the information you tell us about your situation. Therefore, it is important that you let us know about all the relevant facts, so that we can give you accurate advice. Much of our advice is based on rules and regulations which can change frequently, therefore the advice is correct at the time, but is subject to change. 

We have a lot of guidance on our webpages that we encourage you to read because it might provide you with the information you need. If after reading the guidance you have questions or you could not find what you needed, please contact us. 

Please check our contact page for our location, phone number, and web form. The web form asks you to explain your question(s). We can then reply to you by email or we can offer you an appointment. You can choose whether this takes place online (Teams), in person (at the Mile End campus) or by phone.  

Please note that we may not always be able to answer your questions in the appointment. Sometimes (especially if your situation is more complex) we may need to check information after the appointment and then email advice to you. Or we can offer you further appointments if that would be helpful.  

There is no limit to the number of welfare advice appointments you can have, it depends on your situation. Also, students often come back for further advice later in their course, sometimes a long time after first meeting with a Welfare Adviser. This might be because a new issue has come up, or there is something still unresolved from the first time they contacted us.  

Please do not hesitate to contact us, at any stage. Addressing practical or financial issues early can mean that more options are available, however please contact us confidentially at any stage: we are here to help

Law, regulations and policies can change quickly. The information on our website is given in good faith and has been carefully checked but Queen Mary University of London, cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. Queen Mary is not responsible for the content or reliability of the linked websites provided for further information.

Practical and financial issues can impact on our wellbeing. For example, they can cause or exacerbate feelings of stress, anxiety and depression. In the Advice and Counselling Service we also offer wellbeing support, including counsellors, mental health advisers, and wellbeing advisers. Our website explains all these confidential services, as well useful self-help resources, and how to request an appointment.