Students who miss lessons because they are caring for sick children or ill parents might find themselves being penalised by colleges, student leaders have warned.

Traditionally, student support funding from colleges in Scotland has been tied to attendance (the majority of the time with a 100 per cent attendance requirement), so if you miss a class, there’s a possibility that you won’t get your money for the week. But for some students, this is a nigh-on-impossible task: what if your children are ill, you run out of money to pay for the bus, or you need to look after a relative?

NUS Scotland president Liam McCabe has said that he has repeatedly raised concerns about the issue but pupils with lower attendance records are still having their student support funding withdrawn.

He said that in the NUS’s fair attendance survey last year, 45 per cent of respondents said that the pressure to maintain attendance had caused them stress and worry, while three in four had experienced their bursary withdrawn at least once.

In a letter to principals, McCabe writes: “Evidence emerging of students who had lost income because they were caring for sick children or terminally ill parents, while another had been absent due to a cancer scare. In many cases, this led to the loss of all household income.”

McCabe highlighted the Scottish Funding Council’s guidance on attendance which makes it clear that colleges should prioritise pastoral care and support, before punishing students who struggle to attend full-time.

And as concerns around student mental health continues to grow, it’s vital that access to mental health services and reliable financial support are available for college students if they are to succeed and achieve full potential, he added.

Yet, McCabe said that he was dismayed to learn that some institutions are yet to update their fair attendance policies to bring them in line with the new guidance.

He said: “We would appeal to college principals once again to check their attendance policies, bring them into line with the new SFC guidance and update their websites accordingly so their students can access accurate information.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom: some colleges have taken action on the letter and guidance, amended their policies and now instead demand ‘satisfactory attendance’. Others say they will consider the wider circumstances of why a student has missed class. City of Glasgow College has taken it a step further and suspended attendance requirements altogether.