Deductions from Disabled Students Allowance

The request was successful.

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

Please can you confirm the full name and date of the legislation governing the payment of Disabled Students Alowances in Wales?

Is there anything within this legislation or any other legislation that enables SLC / SFW to make deductions from an elligible disabled student's claim for expenditure occured in attending their course of study?

What types of deductions are SLC /SFW legally permitted to make from an elligible disabled student's claim for expenditure occured in attending their course of study?

Please can you confirm the legislation or legal basis enabling any deductions against an elligible disabled student's claim for expenditure occured in attending their course of study?

Please can you confirm the legislation governing the calculations of any such deductions from an elligible disabled student's claim for expenditure occured in attending their course of study?

Please can you confirm whether Student Loans Company or Student Finance Wales' policy documents regarding deductions against expenditure occured by an elligble disabled student in attending their course of study have a basis in law or constitute the legal framework for calculating an award of DSA?

Yours faithfully,

K. T. Bell

FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear K.T. Bell
Thank you for your email dated 15/10/2016.

Your request is being considered under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”).

Your request has been allocated reference 143-16.

We will respond to you under the terms of the FOIA and within 20 working
days.

We will contact you further for clarification of your request if this is
considered necessary.

Yours sincerely

Dona Marie Steele | Legal Executive
Student Loans Company
100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JD

www.slc.co.uk
Follow us at Twitter/SLCcomms for the latest corporate news and updates

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FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear K. T. Bell

I refer to your email dated 15/10/2016 requesting information relating to
the payment of Disabled Students’ Allowances (“DSA”) in Wales under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”). I have provided a response under
each question for ease of reference.

Response

Please can you confirm the full name and date of the legislation governing
the payment of Disabled Students Allowances in Wales?

The current legislation governing the payment of DSA in Wales are The
Education (Student Support) (Wales) Regulations 2015 as amended (the “2015
Regulations”), which are regulations made under the Teaching and Higher
Education Act 1998. The 2015 Regulations came into force on 19/02/2015,
and apply to students who are ordinarily resident in Wales taking
designated higher education courses in respect of academic years beginning
on or after 01/09/2015. The 2015 Regulations can be accessed online from:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2015/5..., with any
amendments to the 2015 Regulations being detailed separately at:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/changes/af....

Is there anything within this legislation or any other legislation that
enables SLC / SFW to make deductions from an eligible disabled student's
claim for expenditure occurred in attending their course of study?

The 2015 Regulations do not refer to deductions for DSA. The 2015
Regulations refer to reimbursement of additional expenditure an eligible
student is obliged to incur by reason of a disability when attending or
undertaking their course.

The 2015 Regulations are supported by Policy Guidance Chapters which are
designed to assist with the interpretation of the 2015 Regulations. The
SFW DSA Guidance Chapter for academic year 2016/17 is available online
from:
http://www.studentfinancewales.co.uk/med...
.

What types of deductions are SLC /SFW legally permitted to make from an
eligible disabled student's claim for expenditure occurred in attending
their course of study?

SLC considers the recommendations in the Needs Assessment Report (“NAR”),
and will issue a DSA2 entitlement letter to a DSA student, which details
the DSA funding they have available under the following categories:
· general allowance;
· non-medical helper;
· travel allowance; and
· specialist equipment.

There may be occasions where SLC cannot reimburse the full amount claimed
because:
· the student has used all of their available DSA funding in a
particular category;
· the claim value is higher than the remaining funds in a particular
allowance and SLC will only reimburse up to the value of the
available DSA funding;
· the student is claiming reimbursement for items which there is no
entitlement to under their DSA entitlement; or
· the claim is for reimbursement of travel costs (please see full
explanation below).

If a student is awarded DSA travel allowance, SLC cannot pay the full
amount claimed for reimbursement of travel costs because the travel
allowance is awarded to pay additional travel costs which are incurred
because of a disability, for travel to and from a student’s home and their
place of study. When a NAR identifies a travel allowance requirement, for
example a student needs to travel by taxi rather than by public transport,
the DSA travel allowance will reimburse additional expenditure. The amount
reimbursed will be the difference between the public transport costs
(regardless of subsidised travel pass) and taxi costs for the journey. For
example:
· a student submits a claim for reimbursement of travel between their
home and their place of study.
· taxi from home address to place of study costs £10.00 (return)
· Public transport costs for the same Journey costs £2.00 (return)
· £10.00 - £2.00 = £8.00
· DSA will reimburse £8.00 for this return journey, because any student
would be expected to incur public transport costs of £2.00.

Please can you confirm the legislation or legal basis enabling any
deductions against an eligible disabled student's claim for expenditure
occurred in attending their course of study?

Please refer to the responses above.

Please can you confirm the legislation governing the calculations of any
such deductions from an eligible disabled student's claim for expenditure
occurred in attending their course of study?

Please refer to the responses above, particularly the response regarding
travel allowance.

Please can you confirm whether Student Loans Company or Student Finance
Wales' policy documents regarding deductions against expenditure occurred
by an eligible disabled student in attending their course of study have a
basis in law or constitute the legal framework for calculating an award of
DSA?

Please refer to the responses above.

Internal review process

I trust that my answer to you is satisfactory; however, if you are unhappy
with the decisions made by me in relation to your freedom of information
request, you may ask SLC for an internal review.

Any such review would be conducted by the Company Secretary/Head of Legal &
Corporate Services, 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD. You may request
a review by writing to the Company Secretary/Head of Legal & Corporate
Services or by emailing the FOI Office ([SLC request email]). In the
event that the Company Secretary/Head of Legal & Corporate Services took
part in the original decision, then the Executive Director of Finance,
Strategy and Corporate Services, will conduct the review. SLC will only
consider requests for internal reviews which are made within 3 months of
the date of our original response (except in exceptional circumstances).

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Dona Marie Steele | Legal Executive
Student Loans Company
100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JD

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