Government defers changes to DSA

Thu,26 March 2015
News

We are glad that the Minister for Business Innovation and Skills has listened to the concerns of disabled students and has decided that proposed reductions to Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) will be deferred until 2016-17

These proposed changes, set out in draft guidance (on accommodation, peripherals and consumables) will now only be made once consultation has taken place.

Disability Rights UK has been very involved in these discussions with students, technical support providers and BIS officials; and we shared with BIS strong evidence that DSA is vital to students’ attainment and future career prospects. DSA enables disabled people to go to university- and helps prevent them from dropping out. Anything that jeopardised this programme would be very damaging to disabled people’s life chances and we are glad that the government has listened to our concerns.

We are still pressing for deferment of the £200 pound contribution by students to the cost of laptops and that all these proposals can be taken back to the drawing board when the next Government responds to the consultation and instead alternative options taken forward that reduce costs to the Government without reducing opportunities for disabled students.