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
www.clear-links.co.uk
Clear Links Support Ltd
Globe Works
Please use the Globe Works address above for all
correspondence.
Registered Office:
Wake Smith Solicitors
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
***********************************************