Fees, payment and sponsorship

We publish this site as LSPM's recruitment agent. We do not set fees, quote them, discount them or take payment; the only figure that binds anyone is the one in LSPM's written offer to you. You pay LSPM's published fee whether you arrive through this site or directly, and no part of it is added to cover us. LSPM pays us separately, from its own income, when a learner we introduced enrols.

What follows is our understanding of how LSPM handles fees for these diplomas, drawn from applicants we have advised and from what LSPM has told us. Where we cannot point to a published LSPM document we say so, and you should confirm the point with LSPM's admissions team before relying on it.

Published fees (LSPM)

Tuition fees are set and collected by London School of Planning and Management. Amounts below are in GBP and apply at the time of publication on this site; confirm the figure in LSPM's written offer before you pay.

• 9 months (Standard duration): GBP £999
• 6 months (Fast track mode): GBP £1,299

Fee payment plans

6 months — GBP £1,299

• Payment option (a): GBP £433 × 3 monthly instalments
• Payment option (b): GBP £1,234 × 1 instalment (We offer a 5% bursary on the total fee for students opting to pay in full)

9 months — GBP £999

• Payment option (c): GBP £199 × 5 monthly instalments
• Payment option (d): GBP £499 × 2 quarterly instalments
• Payment option (e): GBP £949 × 1 instalment (We offer a 5% bursary on the total fee for students opting to pay in full)

Next intake: Rolling intake — course starts when the fee is paid

OTHM Level 8 Diploma

From £999 (9 months, standard) or £1,299 (6 months, fast track) · programme page

Qualifi Level 8 Diploma

From £999 (9 months, standard) or £1,299 (6 months, fast track) · programme page

Awarding body registration

Normally included in the programme fee at Level 8 rather than billed separately; check LSPM's offer letter for the line items.

A Level 8 programme fee at an approved centre normally covers the whole of the qualification. Ask LSPM to confirm each of the following in its offer, because the list is what you should expect rather than a guarantee we can give:

• Registration with OTHM or Qualifi and the certificate on completion.
• All scheduled seminars and tutorials for your chosen duration, online or blended, and access to recordings.
• Individual supervision by a LSPM tutor, including reading of drafts before submission.
• First marking, internal moderation and external verification of every assignment, and at least one resubmission per unit where a criterion is not yet met.
• Access to LSPM's learning resources for the duration of the programme.

Expect the fee not to cover books you choose to buy, travel to any in-person seminar, or a further resubmission beyond the first, for which centres commonly charge a small administrative fee that should be stated in the offer letter. There are no examination fees at Level 8, because there are no examinations.

LSPM offers payment in full on acceptance or by instalments across the programme; the schedule is set out in its offer letter. Ask whether the total is the same under both options, since some centres charge a premium for instalments and you should know before choosing. Payment is made to LSPM's own account by bank transfer. Two safeguards apply whoever you are dealing with: nobody should ask you for payment before LSPM has made an offer in writing and you have accepted it, and nobody acting for LSPM, including us, should ever ask you to pay them directly. If either happens, stop and contact LSPM directly.

Learners outside the United Kingdom pay in sterling; bank charges on international transfers are normally borne by the payer. LSPM should confirm receipt of each instalment in writing.

A substantial share of Level 8 learners are sponsored, wholly or in part, by their employer, and the research units lend themselves to it: the organisation gets a rigorously researched answer to a strategic question it cares about. LSPM can invoice an employer directly on request and will normally provide a short programme summary for internal approval; we are happy to send the specification and the relevant guide chapters to a learning and development contact, and to explain the qualification to them, but the invoice, the sponsorship agreement and any reporting to the employer are LSPM's.

Where sponsorship is conditional on completion or on remaining in post, that is a matter between you and your employer. Ask LSPM what it will and will not disclose to a sponsor about your progress; a well-run centre will not report to a sponsor without your written consent.

Refund terms are LSPM's and are set out in its offer letter and learner agreement; read them before you accept. Under UK consumer law you have a fourteen-day cooling-off period after accepting a contract made at a distance, and you should expect a full refund of anything paid if you cancel within it. Beyond that, ask LSPM specifically: what is refunded if you withdraw before the programme starts once the awarding body registration has been made; what happens to instalments already paid if you withdraw mid-programme; and whether further instalments stop falling due once you give written notice. Ask, too, what LSPM's position is if it were unable to deliver the programme.

Our referral fee has no bearing on any of this. It is paid by LSPM, not deducted from a refund owed to you.

Applicants often ask us to compare the fee with a DBA. We can only say this: a Level 8 diploma is a smaller qualification, delivered over a shorter period, with no thesis supervision or examination, and its fee reflects that. It is not a discounted doctorate. Should a university later credit the diploma against a doctorate, you will save money, but that decision belongs to the university and no budget should depend on it. The chapter on time, cost and commitment sets out how to think about the whole outlay.