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
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Clear Links Support Ltd
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-----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
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