Following a drawn-out procurement and transition process, the Student Loans Company implemented the new Disabled Students’ Allowance process on 26 February 2024.
These changes affect students applying for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) in England and Wales and aim to make the process better for all. You can be forgiven for missing the news on this one as it’s happened very quietly. If the reforms work, things should continue to be quiet… here’s hoping!
At Thomas Pocklington Trust we have long been working with the Student Loans Company (SLC) to represent the experiences of DSA for blind and partially sighted students and this relationship continues. The DSA process has been riddled with inefficiencies for some time, with variability in the quality of needs assessments, delays in getting assistive technology in place, and a lack of accountability from suppliers. The onus has been on students to find a way to navigate a complex DSA process involving many parties, with lots of duplication. We are therefore supportive of the Department for Education’s and SLC’s plans to make the DSA process simpler.
A partially sighted student recently shared their thoughts on their DSA experience with us:
When I heard about DSA I thought this is amazing. You can get the support you need, but, I found myself having to pluck the courage to just even want to ask for it. Because then I had to keep justifying myself. Why do you want an iPad? OK, now you’ve justified yourself. Now you have to wait three months for approval. Now maybe it’s approved, or maybe it’s completely rejected, and then you have to go through the whole painstaking process again.
