How to Fill Out and Submit the PFF2: Sections, Evidence, and Deadlines

The PFF2 form is how a parent, step-parent, or partner gives Student Finance England the household income figures it needs to work out a student’s means-tested maintenance loan. You complete it either through your own online Student Finance account or on paper, using income from a fixed earlier tax year, and you return it by upload or by post to Darlington. Without it, the student only gets the minimum loan.¹

Who Should Fill It In

The people whose income counts toward the household assessment are the ones who complete a PFF2:²

A natural or adoptive parent.
A step-parent — a parent’s spouse, civil partner, or cohabiting partner living in the household.
The student’s spouse or civil partner, if the student is married or in a civil partnership.
The student’s cohabiting partner, if the student is 25 or over and lives with a partner as though married or in a civil partnership.

When parents are separated, only the parent the student normally lives with declares income. If that parent has a new partner in the household, that partner’s income is declared too, whether or not they have any legal relationship to the student. Where two people in the household both need to provide income, each fills in a separate form or uses a separate online account.

One boundary worth naming: students classed as independent do not need a parent to fill in a PFF2 at all. Being 25 or older on the first day of the academic year, having supported yourself for three years before the course, having a dependent child, having been in care, or being estranged from both parents for at least 12 months are the routes to independent status. Simply living away from parents does not qualify.³

Online Account or Paper Form

Most parents and partners now provide their details online rather than on paper. After the student submits their application, Student Finance England emails you within three hours with a link to create your own account.³ You cannot share the student’s login; you need your own. If you supported an application in a previous year, sign in to that existing account rather than opening a new one.

Once you’re in, you enter your National Insurance number and Student Finance England pulls your income data directly from HMRC. You still confirm anything HMRC does not know about — overseas earnings, some savings income, casual freelance work — plus pension contributions and dependent children. The online route is faster because it skips postal handling and manual keying.

The paper PFF2 asks for the same information. You can download it from the GOV.UK student finance pages or request it from Student Finance England. Use paper if you cannot create an online account, for example because you have no valid email address or run into a technical block.

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Whichever route you use, gather these before you open the form:

The student’s Customer Reference Number (CRN), issued when they set up their own student finance account. This links your income to their application.
Your National Insurance number. Without one, the automated HMRC check cannot run and you will have to provide more evidence yourself.⁴
Income records for the specific tax year the form asks about. For 2025/26, that is 6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024, and no other tax year will be accepted. Your P60 or self-assessment return is usually the source.⁴
Details of any overseas income not already reported to HMRC.
Evidence of private pension contributions and Additional Voluntary Contributions from your provider or tax return. These reduce your assessed income, but not without evidence.⁵
Names, dates of birth, and income for any dependent children other than the student applying. For children in further or higher education, you also need their course details and whether they receive student finance.

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Working Through the Six Sections

The paper PFF2 has six sections. The online questions cover the same ground in the same order.

Section 1: Personal Details

Put the student’s CRN, name, and date of birth at the top. Then enter your own name, date of birth, place of birth, home address, marital status, and contact details. If you have your own CRN from a previous application, add it. Check the student’s CRN carefully; a wrong number here will delay the assessment.

Section 2: Data Sharing and Income Overview

This section sets up what HMRC already holds. You confirm whether you have a valid NI number, whether you filed a self-assessment return for the relevant tax year, and whether you had any UK income below the tax threshold or any overseas income not declared to HMRC. Your answers here decide which later sections apply. If HMRC has everything and you answer no to the additional income questions, sections 3 and 4 may be blank.

Section 3: Other UK Income

Report UK income HMRC does not already know about, in three categories: savings and investment income, rental income from property, and casual or freelance earnings. Enter the total for each category for the relevant tax year. If you reported it all through self-assessment, this section is likely blank.

Section 4: Overseas Income

Declare income earned outside the UK that is not already in your HMRC record: employment or self-employment income, taxable state benefits, occupational or private pensions, and any other overseas income. If it was paid in a foreign currency, state which — Student Finance England handles the conversion.

Section 5: Income Deductions

Two deductions can be claimed here: private pension contributions and AVCs. They lower your assessed income and can raise the student’s loan. Evidence is required: a statement from your pension provider or your full tax return for pension contributions, and confirmation from DWP, your tax return, or a P60 for AVCs.⁵ No evidence, no deduction.

Section 6: Your Dependants

List dependent children other than the student applying, split between those not in further or higher education and those who are. For each child, give name, date of birth, and any income they receive. For children in higher education, add whether they get student finance and whether you want to support their application. Student Finance England uses these details to calculate a dependant allowance that lowers your assessed income.

Sign and date the declaration on the last page. If two people in the household need to provide income, each signs their own form.

Submitting the Form

Upload the completed, signed form through your Student Finance account, or post it to:⁶

Student Finance England
PO Box 210
Darlington
DL1 9HJ

If you post it, use tracked delivery. Write the student’s CRN on every page so that if pages get separated in processing, they can be reconnected to the right application. Keep a copy or scan before you send it.

After You Submit

Student Finance England’s published time for processing financial information including the PFF2 is around 15 working days, though it moves with demand.⁷ Applications sent in between May and September sit at the longer end of that window. Submitting well before the academic year starts gives the assessment time to complete so the student’s first payment lands near their course start date.

When the assessment is finished, the student receives an updated financial notification letter with their revised maintenance loan. If Student Finance England needs more information or finds a mismatch with HMRC, it will contact you by email or through your online account. You can track progress by signing in and looking at whether the income assessment is marked received, being processed, or complete.

For continuing students, the process repeats each year. You get another email when they reapply, and if you use the online account you review and confirm your existing details rather than filling out a fresh form.³

If Your Income Has Fallen Since the Assessed Tax Year

Because the PFF2 uses an older tax year, it can lag behind your current situation. If household income has dropped by at least 15% since that tax year, you can ask for a current year income assessment. You still have to provide the earlier tax year figures first; the current year assessment runs alongside the standard one, not instead of it.⁸

Complete the current year income form and return it through your account or by post. If both parents, or a parent and partner, live in the household, both fill it in even when only one person’s income has changed. Send a new form if income shifts again during the year. After the tax year ends, expect a form around early May asking you to confirm your actual income. Self-employed applicants who have not yet filed their return can ask to delay this until after the January self-assessment deadline.

Why It’s Worth the Effort

The PFF2 unlocks the means-tested part of the maintenance loan. Lower household income produces a higher loan, with households at £25,000 or less generally qualifying for the maximum. Without a completed PFF2, Student Finance England cannot assess household income and pays the minimum by default — roughly £3,900 to £6,900 for 2025/26 depending on the student’s living arrangements, against a maximum of £10,544 for a student living away from home outside London.¹ The gap runs to several thousand pounds a year, which is why the form is almost always worth completing even when it feels intrusive.

1
GOV.UK. Support With Living Costs 2025 to 2026 Academic Year
2
Student Loans Company. PFF2 Assessment of Financial Circumstances 2025/26
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GOV.UK. Support Your Child or Partners Student Finance Application
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Student Loans Company. PFF2 Assessment of Financial Circumstances 2025/26
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GOV.UK. PFF2 Assessment of Financial Circumstances 2026/27
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GOV.UK. Support Your Child or Partners Student Finance Application – If You Need to Update Your Details
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GOV.UK. Student Finance England SFE Current Application Timescales
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GOV.UK. Support Your Child or Partners Student Finance Application – Current Year Income