Hello Joel
In relation to late DSA applications, the DfES document for LEA Awards Officers, Higher Education Student Finance in England and Wales 2004/5 Academic Year (C17 page 30) states that "Disability Advisers may be able to arrange human support... at short notice." It then continues by suggesting that the usual DSA assessment would only be requested if specialist equipment is required.
This would suggest that all that is required for a student to be DSA funded for support in the latter stages of their course is confirmation of needs as seen fit by the Disability Advisor, therefore, any LEA who argues differently are ignoring their own guidelines and should be informed as such.
It is important to remember that the law puts the student first and the few 'difficult' LEAs that there are should remember to do the same.
Hope this helps!
Mark Wakeham
UWIC
-----Original Message-----
From: Petrie, Joel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 June 2005 13:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: DSAs
Regarding very late DSAs, Bernard Doherty wrote "If an assessment report recommends support, it should be costed for the academic year and I have never seen a problem with claiming (or recommending) it retrospectively."
We're still having this problem and wondered if anyone could offer any solutions. We obviously put support in place irrespective of a student's DSA status - but with the tightness of post 16 budgets recouping at least some of the cost of this support is a priority. In relation to Bernard's point some LEAs are categorically unwilling to fund support put in place prior to Needs Assessment, even though the total amount would be well within the allocation for non-medical helper support per annum.
We facilitate Ed Psych Reports for our learners, often before the start of their course. We also have an excellent relationship with a local assessment centre; they are extremely efficient and get reports done ASAP and copied back often within days. The sticking point in the process seems to be (some) LEAs, who are routinely losing correspondence from our students, taking months to respond with consent to proceed with a Needs assessment, sending back Ed Psych Reports as being unacceptable despite the same format being accepted by every other LEA we've dealt with.
Is this an unusual situation or is the system obstructive elsewhere?
Joel
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