▌Disabled Students’ Allowances are changing!
This year sees the first major changes to DSAs since they were introduced over 25 years ago. In that time the number of disabled students entering and succeeding in higher education has increased proving that a disability, mental-health condition or specific learning difficulty isn’t a barrier to going into higher education.

DSAs can pay for extra costs the student has because of their disability and in 2011/12 over £144 million in DSAs was paid to 61,000 students.

The rationale behind the changes is essentially to balance funding between the government and higher-education providers. The changes recognise updates in disability legislation (under the Equality Act 2010) and the legal duties placed on universities and colleges to provide reasonable adjustments to support their disabled students, as well as technological advances and increases in the use and ownership of technology.

What’s changing?

• DSAs will no longer be provided for non-specialist non-medical help

  DSAs will continue to fund the most specialist non-medical help but it’s expected that HEIs will support students requiring less specialist non-medical help. For example, some support could be provided for groups, rather than individually and some courses could provide course notes to negate the need for note-taking.

• DSA funding will no longer be provided for standard specification computers, software, and peripherals.

  Almost all students now own or have access to a computer therefore standard specification computers will no longer be provided.

  DSAs will no longer pay for higher specification or higher cost computers simply because of the way in which a course is delivered, as all students (i.e. disabled and non-disabled) who undertake those courses will be accessing them in the same way.

  DSAs will continue to pay for higher specification computers where a student needs one because of their disability.

  Additionally, DSAs will no longer fund software and peripherals that are now standard to most students.

• DSAs will no longer cover additional costs of accommodation which is provided by the HEI.

  Accommodation provided by the HEI should be suitable for the vast majority of disabled students under the Equality Act without any additional cost being passed onto the student.

The changes will apply to new students applying to SFE for DSAs for the first time in 2016/17 and any existing DSA students will remain on the current system of support.

More information around the changes will be published on our practitioner website as it becomes available.

The rationale behind the changes is essentially to balance funding between the government and higher-education providers.

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