Important information for students

The changes to DSAs for students making their first claim for DSA

What can I now expect my HEP to provide?

Your HE Provider has a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students under the Equality Act 2010. This includes both anticipatory reasonable adjustments and individual reasonable adjustments under the Act.

Primary responsibility for less specialist non-medical help (human support) such as; a scribe, reader or notetaker, now rests with your HEP. Your HEP might meet your needs by providing adjustments that mean you do not require human support. For example, they may allow you to record lectures so that you do not need someone to write notes for you in order to capture points during the lecture.

Additionally, where specialist accommodation for disabled students is owned and managed by your HEP or someone acting on its behalf, the additional costs of providing specialistaccommodation should not be passed on to you. This does not cover the costs of accommodation that all students pay.

I’m already claiming DSAs – will the changes affect me?

The changes to DSAs from September 2016 only apply to students making their firstclaim for DSAs for courses starting in the 2016/17 academic year or after. If you are already in receipt of DSAs the changes will not apply to you, and you should be able to continue with the same levels of support from the same support workers or providers for the rest of your course.

If you continue from an undergraduate degree to a post graduate course without a break, you should be able to continue with the same provision.

How can I access the help?

You can expect yourHEP to address the barriers to your learning identified on your needs assessment report and which are not addressed through DSAs-funded support. You should make contact with student support services at your intended HEP at an early stage to find out what sort of help is on offer. When you have your needs assessment interview, your needs assessor will want to talk to you about the help on offer at the HEP you have chosen, so you will want to have a good idea of the range of support available.

Your student support services should refer you to the disability advisor (sometimes known as the disability officer), if your HEP has this service. They will be able to advise you on the help the HEP can provide, how it can meet the needs identified in your Needs Assessment Report, and how to access it. So, if you haven’t done so before, you should talk to them as soon as your place on your course is confirmed.

In some HEPs you might need to speak to other members of staff too – for example, you might need to speak to the accommodation office about reasonable adjustments to accommodation, or to the library to discuss longer loans on books. In those circumstances it will be important for you to know who to talk to and what questions you will need to ask, and your disability officer should be giving you that advice.

What support will I receive?

Your Needs Assessment Report will identify all the barriers to your teaching and learning. It will also identify some strategies to overcome these barriers which can be funded through your Disabled Students’ Allowance: for example, assistive software which helps you to plan and write essays; and specialist human support such as,a British Sign Language Interpreter, if you require this.

For strategies which are not DSAs fundable, your Needs Assessment Reportwill not detail the help required, but will instead identify the barriers to your teaching and learning that the HEP should be looking to address. Although, the support you receive might be different to the help some students have received in the past (and might not be delivered as personal one-to-one support), it should still address the barriers identified. For example, in the past some students might have received a note taker to sit with them during lectures and take a note of what is being said. Some institutions may decide that instead of doing that they will provide all students with a full transcript of the lecture, or provide a recording of the lecture to download.

Where a student is in disagreement with their HEP over the support provided to meet the barriers identified on a Needs Assessment Report as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010, they will have access to an Exceptional Case Process (ECP). This is aimed specifically at disabled students in receipt of DSAs whom are in dispute with their HEP, and will enable them to access interim support whilst their dispute is ongoing. Further information is available below.

The new Disabled Students’ Allowances Exceptional Case Process

What is the Exceptional Case Process (ECP) for?

The ECP can help you if you are in dispute with your higher education provider (HEP) over reasonable adjustments.

What does it do?

It provides temporary funding to pay for support. This will enable you to study whilst the dispute is being decided. The Department for Education will be monitoring the ECP closely to ensure that it remains timely and fit for purpose.

Who does it apply to?

It applies to students eligible to receive DSAs support from Student Loans Company who are studying on a higher education course. You can be studying at a university, a college providing higher education courses, or an alternative provider of higher education.

What are the rules for applying for help from the ECP?

You are able to apply for interim funding under theECP if:

  • You have applied for DSAs;
  • You have commenced your HEP’s formal dispute or appeals process;
  • Your disputed support addresses a barrier that has been identified in your Needs Assessment Report;
  • The dispute is about support which you believe you require because of your disability to access your course, and which your the HEP has stated they do not deem a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010(the HEP may have suggested an alternative means to address the specific barrier, which you do not think is sufficient);
  • The support that you are disputing must be support that has been previously available via DSAs, and within the scope of DSAs.

How do I apply?

You will need to complete the first part of the Support Request Form, and then pass the form to your HEP’s disability advisor to complete. The Support Request Form can be found here: You or your disability advisor will then need to send the completed form to Student Finance England at

How long can I get support for?

If your request for temporary support is agreed by SLC, you can receive support for 45 calendar days from the date that the decision to issue support is made. The support received will be pro-rated over the length of your academic year - so for example a student studying over a 30 week academic year with a recommendation of 30 weeks of support could initially call down around 1 hour of support per week for 6 weeks (45 days = approximately 6 weeks)

If your HEP subsequently decides the dispute in your favour, your HEP will take over providing the support, and funding for this support from SLC will stop. You should notify SLC as soon as your HEP has reached a decision.

If your HEP subsequently decides the dispute against you and you accept this decision (or do not escalate it to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA)), then your support will end after 45 calendar days.

If your HEP decides the dispute against you, and if you decide to escalate your dispute to the OIA, you can receive support for a further 90 calendar days. This will again be pro-rated. You will need to notify SLC that you have escalated your complaint.