Hi Honey,
If the student is seconded onto the course by an NHS Trust then the NHS
SGU won't administer her DSA but her LEA most definitely will if she is
generally eligible for such an allowance.  This ruling has been in place
since last April, some LEAs may not be aware of it though if they
haven't had many nursing students.  I'm sure the DfES actually wrote to
all LEAs about it though so it should be a DfES publication.  

If, for whatever reason, she is not eligible for DSA, then I'm afraid
her support will have to come out of University funding, if the
University does that sort of thing.  I've never had the University fund
a whole Needs Assessment before, but I have had them pay for a few
discreet items, it just depends if you have a sympathetic person in the
faculty or if you have a fund set up to pay for these costs.  

You could try the Access to Learning Fund but if she isn't eligible for
DSA then it is likely that she won't be eligible for ALF either.  

I hope this is helpful.  

Kind regards
Pauline McInnes
Disability Co-ordinator
Thames Valley University


-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Honey Lucas
Sent: 31 March 2005 15:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: NHS Student Grants Unit

Dear all

I have just been speaking to the NHS Student Grants Unit about students
who are on Nursing, Midwifery, Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy
courses and who are eligible for the DSA.  Ordinarily, if a student on
one of these courses is eligible for the DSA then the Student Grants
Unit acts in place of their LEA and administers the allowance for them.
However, I've just been told that, if the student is not eligible for an
NHS bursary, then the Student Grants Unit will *not* administer their
DSA.

This has come up quite late into the process of applying for DSA for one
of our students, who has now been told by the Student Grants Unit that
not only with the SGU not administer their DSA but that the SGU will
also not pay for their Needs Assessment, despite previous assurances
that they would pay.

In this particular case there appears to be no reason why the student
would be ineligible for the DSA itself, but they will now need to
contact their LEA to see whether they will agree to administer the
allowance as the SGU are refusing to do this themselves.

Has anyone else come across this situation?  I have looked at the SGU's
new website and it does have one line that states that they won't
administer DSA for students who are not receiving bursaries - but they
don't give any other information about what a student in this situation
should do.  We will of course continue to provide support for the
student while all of this is sorted out, but as you can imagine it has
caused them quite a bit of anxiety.

I thought I would let the list know about this rule, as it doesn't seem
to be very widely advertised.

Thanks,
Honey Lucas

--
Honey Lucas
Disabled Student Adviser

Student Services
Oxford Brookes University
Headington Campus
Headington Hill
Oxford OX3 0BP

Tel: 01865 484689
Fax: 01865 484656