Disabled Students Allowance

The request was partially successful.

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

I am writing to respectfully request the following information in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please note that these questions relate to Academic Years 2014/2015 2015/2016 2016/2017 2017/2018 2018/219.

1. How much public money was/is spent on Disabled Students Allowance?

2. Please detail a list of all organisations or individuals (as considered in the Data Protection Act 1998/2018) including how much money was paid to the said suppliers in total for each academic year.

3. Please provide a copy of any legislation, policies, procedures or other documentation which details the way in which a student can apply for DSA, how an application is assessed including any criteria marking scheme and details of the obligations of SFE and the rights of any applicant in terms of choosing/recommending an appropriate supplier.

If I am able to provide any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours faithfully,

Ryan Jarvis

FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Mr. Jarvis,

Thank you for your email dated 15 April 2019.

Your request for information is being considered under the provisions of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Your request has been allocated reference number 68-19.

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,

The Freedom of Information Office
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

From: Ryan Jarvis <[FOI #568582 email]>
To: FOI requests at SLC <[SLC request email]>
Date: 15/04/2019 15:39
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Disabled Students Allowance

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

I am writing to respectfully request the following information in line with
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please note that these questions relate to Academic Years 2014/2015
2015/2016 2016/2017 2017/2018 2018/219.

1. How much public money was/is spent on Disabled Students Allowance?

2. Please detail a list of all organisations or individuals (as considered
in the Data Protection Act 1998/2018) including how much money was paid to
the said suppliers in total for each academic year.

3. Please provide a copy of any legislation, policies, procedures or other
documentation which details the way in which a student can apply for DSA,
how an application is assessed including any criteria marking scheme and
details of the obligations of SFE and the rights of any applicant in terms
of choosing/recommending an appropriate supplier.

If I am able to provide any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Yours faithfully,

Ryan Jarvis

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #568582 email]

Is [SLC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Student Loans Company Limited? If so, please contact us using
this form:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections

SLC FOI Requests - Do Not Reply, Student Loans Company Limited

This is an automated response to let you know that your email has been
received by the Student Loans Company Limited ("SLC").

SLC's Freedom of Information Office is only able to deal with requests for
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FOIA"). If your
email relates to a request for information under the FOIA, a separate
acknowledgement will be issued with a request reference.

If your email is in relation to a student finance application or account
enquiry, and you have provided sufficient details to identify your account,

your email will be passed to the relevant department. Alternatively,
please contact us using the contact details available at
https://www.slc.co.uk/contact.aspx.

If your email is not a customer enquiry then it has been passed to the
relevant department.

SLC's Freedom of Information Office is unable to advise response timescales

for other departments.

show quoted sections

FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Mr Jarvis

We are currently drafting a response to your request and noticed that you
have made reference to SFE in question 3 only.  Please advise if your
other questions relate to SFE only, or also the other UK funding
authorities (Student Finance Wales, Student Finance Northern Ireland and
SAAS).  

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Office
Student Loans Company
100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JD

[1]www.slc.co.uk
Follow us at [2]Twitter/SLCcomms for the latest corporate news and updates

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/www.slc.co.uk
2. file:///tmp/www.Twitter.com/SLCcomms

Dear FOI Requests,

I can confirm that all questions relate to Student Finance England only.

Yours sincerely,

Ryan Jarvis

SLC FOI Requests - Do Not Reply, Student Loans Company Limited

This is an automated response to let you know that your email has been
received by the Student Loans Company Limited ("SLC").

SLC's Freedom of Information Office is only able to deal with requests for
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FOIA"). If your
email relates to a request for information under the FOIA, a separate
acknowledgement will be issued with a request reference.

If your email is in relation to a student finance application or account
enquiry, and you have provided sufficient details to identify your account,

your email will be passed to the relevant department. Alternatively,
please contact us using the contact details available at
https://www.slc.co.uk/contact.aspx.

If your email is not a customer enquiry then it has been passed to the
relevant department.

SLC's Freedom of Information Office is unable to advise response timescales

for other departments.

show quoted sections

FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Mr. Jarvis,

I refer to your recent email dated 15 April 2019 requesting the following
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”):

"Please note that these questions relate to Academic Years 2014/2015
2015/2016 2016/2017 2017/2018 2018/219.

1. How much public money was/is spent on Disabled Students Allowance?

2. Please detail a list of all organisations or individuals (as considered
in the Data Protection Act 1998/2018) including how much money was paid to
the said suppliers in total for each academic year.

3. Please provide a copy of any legislation, policies, procedures or other
documentation which details the way in which a student can apply for DSA,
how an application is assessed including any criteria marking scheme and
details of the obligations of SFE and the rights of any applicant in terms
of choosing/recommending an appropriate supplier. "

Response

I can confirm that Student Loans Company Limited (SLC) holds the
information you have requested in part.

Regarding part 1 of your request, this information is technically exempt
from disclosure under section 21(1) of the FOIA as it is available to you
by alternative means. The Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) statistics are
published on the SLC website. I attach the link to the data for Student
Finance England (SFE) here for ease of reference:
https://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistic...

Please see the “Tables” spreadsheet at Table 4B for the relevant
information on DSA for 2017/18. The relevant data for the previous years,
dating back to 2014/15 can be found at the following link at Table 3B:
https://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistic...

Please note, DSA payments typically happen later in the academic year than
other support payments. This is due to students often only becoming aware
of their entitlement after starting their course and also payments being
made retrospectively as and when the payments are invoiced.

Regarding part 2 of your request, this information is exempt from
disclosure under section 12(1) of the FOIA as it is out-with the scope of
the cost limit. The cost limit afforded to SLC is £450 or 2.5 days of staff
time, calculated as 18 hours at £25 per hour. By way of advice and
assistance, this information is not in an easily accessible format and
would require the manual collation of more than 30,000 individual accounts
per year which takes it out-with the scope of the FOIA.

Regarding part 3 of your request, the Education (Student Support)
Regulations 2011 (as amended) regulation 40(1) stipulates a student
qualifies for Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) if:

"(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (4), a student qualifies for a grant
under regulation 40A if the
student—
(a) is an eligible student; and
(b) has a disability."

Regulation 40A notes if a student qualifies under regulation 40, the
Secretary of State is authorised to pay DSA for the purpose of assisting
with the additional expenditure the student is oblige to incur for
attendance of their course due to their disability; and regulation 41(1)
states "the amount of the disabled students' allowance is the amount that
the Secretary of State considers appropriate in accordance with the
student's circumstances" subject to proceeding paragraphs in regulation 41.

In terms of the DSA application process, DSA assessment process, SFE’s
obligation and the right to choose an appropriate supplier, this
information is technically exempt from disclosure under section 21(1) of
the FOIA as it is available to you by alternative means. However, I have
included the links to the relevant DSA Guidance Chapters below for ease of
reference:

· 2014/ 15 AY:
https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi...

· 2015/16 AY: Continuing students whose course started before 15/16 AY
-
https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi...
and new students from 15/16 AY -
https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi...
· 2016/17 AY: Continuing students whose course started before 15/16 AY
-
https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi...
and new students from 16/17 AY -
https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi...
· 2017/18 AY: Continuing students whose course started before 15/16 AY
- https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi... and new
students from 17/18 AY -
https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi...
· 2018/19 AY: Continuing students whose course started before 16/17 AY
-
https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi...
and new students from 16/17 AY -
https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/medi...

Further information, including details of the ways in which a student can
apply for DSA, can be found online at:
https://www.gov.uk/disabled-students-all....

Internal review process

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review.

Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date
of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed
to the Freedom of Information Office, Student Loans Company Limited, 100
Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD or by email at: [SLC request email].
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

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,

The Freedom of Information Office
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

From: Ryan Jarvis <[FOI #568582 email]>
To: FOI requests at SLC <[SLC request email]>
Date: 15/04/2019 15:39
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Disabled Students Allowance

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

I am writing to respectfully request the following information in line with
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please note that these questions relate to Academic Years 2014/2015
2015/2016 2016/2017 2017/2018 2018/219.

1. How much public money was/is spent on Disabled Students Allowance?

2. Please detail a list of all organisations or individuals (as considered
in the Data Protection Act 1998/2018) including how much money was paid to
the said suppliers in total for each academic year.

3. Please provide a copy of any legislation, policies, procedures or other
documentation which details the way in which a student can apply for DSA,
how an application is assessed including any criteria marking scheme and
details of the obligations of SFE and the rights of any applicant in terms
of choosing/recommending an appropriate supplier.

If I am able to provide any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Yours faithfully,

Ryan Jarvis

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #568582 email]

Is [SLC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Student Loans Company Limited? If so, please contact us using
this form:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections