Not all HE institutions pay their support tutors, some ask the support
tutors to invoice the LEAs direct.
Ginny Stacey
Turner, Paddy wrote:
> "NMHs may otherwise lose income for that day and incur travel costs."
> I think the DfES are living in a different era - we pay our staff in
> good faith and attempt to reclaim the money from the Funding
> Authorities - it is not they who lose money it is the service
> provider........unless ofcourse we redirect the charge to the student
> as directed by one LEA! I consulted the DRC about this: is it
> discrimination/unfavourable treatment for a disabled student to be
> charged money because they failed to turn up for a session when this
> doesn't happen to non-disabled students? Why should disabled students
> have this additional burden of responsibility placed upon them? They
> were rather bland and merely repeated my question back in the 'may be'
> form - "this may be contrary blah, blah, blah..."
> DSA is payable for *additional costs incurred by the student*. The
> DfES guidance is right - the service provider whether it be the
> individual or the service itself should be paid *by the student *when
> attending in good faith and the LEA's should honour that. The refusal
> by LEA's to pay the service provider is, *in theory*, a refusal to
> reimburse the student - current practice for service providers to
> invoice LEA's direct leaves the student out of the loop and leads this
> aspect to be conveniently forgotten in my view!
> Cheers
> Paddy
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Marie Norris
> *Sent:* 07 February 2007 14:52
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* FW: re Did Not Attends and DSA
>
> Further to Wendy’s posting re Did Not Attends please see the message
> copied below for the information I have recently received from the
> SSIN Queries team. I had asked for further guidance from the DfES as
> we have recently received a number of letters from LEAs who will not
> pay for DNAs whatever the reason for the DNA.
>
> Previous DfES guidance was as follows:
>
> There will be occasions where students fail to attend sessions with
> non-medical helpers (NMHs) at short notice for reasons such as
> illness. In such circumstances we feel that the NMHs fee may still be
> paid from the DSA. NMHs may otherwise lose income for that day and
> incur travel costs.
>
> They may also have turned down other work on the cancelled date which
> they were not able to accept at the time of the offer because of the
> prior commitment but which was no longer available when the student
> cancelled the session.
>
> The SSIN update of July 2006 was similar. Please see
> http://www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/administrators/pdf/ACF9F58.pdf
>
> However this does not seem to be the current practice that some LEAs
> are following, which is why I sought further clarification. I will
> continue to discuss the issue with the SSIN queries team as we have
> now built up a substantial file of un-paid invoices.
>
> Best wishes, Marie
>
> Marie Norris
>
> phone: 0845 833 9971
>
> fax: 0845 833 9979
>
> text/mobile: 07702 598408
>
> text only: 07786 204296
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> www.clear-links.co.uk
>
> Clear Links Support Ltd
>
> Globe Works
>
> Penistone Road
>
> Sheffield S6 3AE
>
> Please use the Globe Works address above for all correspondence.
>
> Registered Office:
>
> Wake Smith Solicitors
>
> 68 Clarkehouse Road
>
> Sheffield S10 2LJ
>
> This message and any attachments are confidential and should only be
> read by those to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended
> recipient, please delete this message from your computer and destroy
> all copies. Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and
> do not necessarily represent those of the company.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shirley Farley [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> SSIN Queries
> Sent: 19 January 2007 08:57
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: re Did Not Attends and DSA
>
> Dear Marie
>
> Thank you for your email sent to the SSIN Queries mailbox dated 2 January
>
> 2006. I have been asked to respond.
>
> We have referred to the DfES Policy Team for their advice. We are all
>
> aware that DSAs are personal grants paid in respect of additional course
>
> related expenditure that a student is 'obliged to incur' to undertake a
>
> course of higher education because of a disability. It is the Departments
>
> view that when a student does not attend a pre-arranged session with a NMH
>
> the question that must be asked is, 'whether they were obliged to
> incur any
>
> expenditure as a result of not attending?'
>
> For example, is the student under a contractual obligation to pay a
>
> cancellation charge if they do not attend a NMH session and give less
> than,
>
> say, a day's notice of cancellation? Was the student obliged to enter into
>
> such a contract to secure the NMH support they need? Was the student
>
> obliged to cancel the NMH session and give less than the required
> period of
>
> notice?
>
> In short, when a student does not attend a NMH session, the local
> authority
>
> (LA) will have to take a view on the facts of the case. The LA must be
>
> satisfied that the student has:
>
> incurred expenditure as a result of not attending and
>
> was in fact obliged to incur this expenditure
>
> This information must be obtained before they could agree to such
>
> expenditure being met from the student's DSAs.
>
> I must stress that I am expressing the Department's view. The Department
>
> are happy to discuss this issue further however, they have asked us to to
>
> point out that the responsibility for assessing and awarding DSAs is
>
> devolved to the LAs - and they would not be able to contravene the
>
> statutory requirements listed above.
>
> I trust this has clarified the situation.
>
> Regards
>
> Shirl Farley
>
> Student Support
>
> ***********************************************
>
|