I think that the answer is that you are sing the wrong comparator. You should be comparing a person with a disability who is not attending the course and one that is. The person that is not attending the course would use their DLA to pay for costs of going shopping etc. The person that is attending the course would have the costs of attending their course on top of the other travel costs that someone who isn't on a course has. Tony -----Original Message----- From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Bernard Doherty Sent: 11 November 2004 12:05 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Petrol v taxi costs Ah, sorry, I wasn't being explicit enough, I think. The whole argument always starts from 'in what way does this student face higher costs than another who lived in the same place and attended the same course?' One claim might be that the student cannot use public transport but through the mobility scheme has received a vehicle and support with running costs. In which case, the cost of each journey is likely to be less than the costs faced by students paying for public transport; at any rate, the DSA should always only be paying the difference, if any. I know in practice very few LEAs deduct standard fares from their awards, but this is the consideration they are supposed to make (so I believe). Regards, Bernard Bernard Doherty Assessor East Anglia Regional ACCESS Centre Anglia Polytechnic University East Road Cambridge CB1 1PT 01223 363271 x2534 [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kate Goddard" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 11:53 AM Subject: Re: Petrol v taxi costs Just as Access to Work pays for travel to work on top of DLA, DSA travel allowance can be used to pay for transport to and from education. This was confirmed to us by DfES: "It would be impractical to ask LEAs to investigate whether a student's DLA mobility component was being used to cover travel costs to the HEI. We would therefore recommend that DLA mobility component should, like the notional travel element of the student loan, be disregarded when an LEA is working out DSA travel costs." But I know getting petrol costs met through the DSA can be very difficult, even if it is cheaper than taxis! Kate -----Original Message----- From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Bernard Doherty Sent: 11 November 2004 11:46 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Petrol v taxi costs Is the student receiving premium (or any, for thart matter) mobility allowance through the DLA? If so, I think an awards officer would feel that the student was being paid twice for the same cause if a further allowance was granted from the DSA. Regards, Bernard Bernard Doherty Assessor East Anglia Regional ACCESS Centre Anglia Polytechnic University East Road Cambridge CB1 1PT 01223 363271 x2534 [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Emma J Price" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 10:34 AM Subject: Petrol v taxi costs > Dear all > > Is there anything in the regs that states whether the DSA can fund the > petrol costs for a student with an adapted vehicle to and from uni? > The LEA have offered to pay taxis, but not petrol. > > Thanks > > Emma > > ---------------------- > Emma Price > Disability Co-ordinator > Equality and Diversity Department > King's College London >