Disabled allowance

Changes in the administration arrangements for DSA awards in Scotland will have led to the under-reporting of students in receipt of DSA at some Scottish providers. The numbers of students recorded as being in receipt of DSA at the Open University in Scotland has been particularly affected by this due to the University’s distance student support model.

A change in external reporting of DSA information to providers in Scotland for the 2019/20 student return has led to some Scottish providers not returning complete DSA information for their students. Data in Table T7 should be treated with caution as it may be undercounting the number of students in receipt of DSA at Scottish providers. The following providers have been excluded from table T7 due to incomplete DSA information: Glasgow Caledonian, The University of Strathclyde.

University Centre Quayside Limited came in scope for the HESA data collection in late 2019/20 and retrospectively collected DSA information from their students. Data in Table T7 should be treated with caution as it is likely to be an undercount of the true number in receipt of DSA.

A technical issue resulted in The University of Stirling being unable to accurately report on which of their students declared receipt of the DSA in their HESA Return for 2018-19 therefore they have been excluded from Table T7

Changes to the Disabled Student Allowances administered through Student Finance England took effect in the academic years 2015/16 and 2016/17. These changes rebalanced responsibility for supporting disabled students, with HEPs providing certain aspects of disability related support previously funded via the DSAs, including funding to support specialist equipment and accommodation costs. Further details have been published on the changes to DSA.

The Open University under-reported the number of students in receipt of DSA in England and Wales in 2014/15. This is due to changes in the administration arrangements for DSA awards in 2014/15 which resulted in information not being available for all students in receipt of an award. They estimate that the return undercounts students in receipt of DSA in England and Wales by c.370 awards and 34 awards, respectively (applicable to table T7).