What to expect from your Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) Needs Assessment

Your Needs Assessment – What you need to know

What is a Needs Assessment and why do you need one?

Before you can get DSA support, you need to have a Needs Assessment. It’s not a test, it’s a relaxed, informal meeting that helps us make sure you get the right support to succeed on your course. It’s a conversation about how your disability or health condition may affect your study and learning.

When will your Needs Assessment take place?

After we’ve approved your DSA application, we’ll confirm which one of our providers will be carrying out your Needs Assessment: Study Tech or Capita. Your provider should offer you an appointment within 7 working days of first contacting you. You’ll be able to choose an appointment on a different date if it better suits your needs.

Where will your Needs Assessment take place?

You can choose whether your Needs Assessment takes place in-person or remotely (e.g. by video call). Your provider will provide information to help you decide what option is best for you.

If you choose an in-person assessment, we’ll try our best to make sure the travel time and location of the appointment are convenient for you. If it’s not convenient, you can discuss alternative options with your provider. If the Needs Assessment is in-person, it should be held in a private space, with accessible toilet facilities.

Who will you speak to at your Needs Assessment?

When you meet with us, you’ll talk to a trained specialist about the most appropriate support options for you. Your needs assessor is not a doctor, they’re a suitably experienced and skilled person who will be able to understand your disability and course related needs.

How long will your Needs Assessment take?

The meeting may last up to 2 hours, but this will depend on your specific needs.

What else you should know about your Needs Assessment

You can bring someone with you.	You can ask for someone to come with you to the appointment, for example a family member, friend or support worker. You can book your appointment online or by telephone.
You can claim your travel costs back.	If you need to pay any travel costs to get to and from your Needs Assessment, we can reimburse you for these. Please make sure you keep any travel receipts or tickets so you can claim back the costs.
They’ll make sure your accessibility needs are met.	Your Needs Assessment Provider will ask if you have any accessibility needs or requirements (e.g. communication support or a parking space) prior to the meeting taking place.
What you’ll talk about during your Needs Assessment.	Don’t worry if you’re not sure what types of support will help you, it’s the needs assessor’s job to figure that out with you. During the meeting, the needs assessor may ask you about struggles or difficulties you have as a result of your disability/health condition. We understand this may be a sensitive thing for some people to talk about. Your needs assessor will ask about any technology or other support that’s helped you in the past and advise you on what other kinds of support your Higher Education Provider may be able to offer. Your needs assessor will clearly explain the recommendations they’re making and why.
Trying out equipment or software.	For in-person meetings, any relevant equipment and software will be demonstrated by the needs assessor and you should get a chance to try using it too. There should be plenty of time for demonstrations, questions and any feedback you may have. For remote Needs Assessments, the needs assessor may offer you a follow up, in-person meeting to demonstrate the equipment.

How to prepare for your Needs Assessment

We want to make sure you get the most out of your Needs Assessment, to help us do this please try your best to follow these steps:

1. Please arrive on time for your Needs Assessment, if you’re late then the needs assessor will have less time to find out what support you need. If you can’t make it, please call your provider at least 24 hours before the meeting to let them know.

2. Provide all the information your Needs Assessment Provider asks for ahead of the meeting. You may also be asked about any technology or support you’ve benefited from previously, so have a think about anything that may have helped you from your time at school or in day-to-day life.

3. Please ask for additional support or help if you need it. It’s important that you feel comfortable and have everything you need for the meeting.

After your Needs Assessment

You’ll get a chance to review the Needs Assessment Report.	It should be sent to you 2 working days after your Needs Assessment. You can also choose for the report to be shared with your Higher Education Provider’s Disability Support Team.
Your Needs Assessment Provider will let SLC know what specialist equipment, non-medical help or other support they recommend.	We’ll review their recommendations, then we’ll email you to confirm what support is available to you.
The final decision on what support is approved sits with us (Student Loans Company)	If we’ve not approved certain items of support, your needs assessor should explain why to you. If you don’t agree with the recommendations or you feel that something’s been missed, you can raise this to your provider.
If your circumstances change during your course.	You can contact your Needs Assessment Provider to ask for your support needs to be reviewed.

You’ll be able to contact your Needs Assessment Provider with any questions or feedback by telephone or email between 9am and 5:30pm, Monday to Friday. Relay services for customers who have specific disability related communication needs should also be available. They’ll try to respond to emails within 2 working days.

Our commitment to you

You will be treated with dignity and respect in relation to individual differences including: age, gender, sexuality, religion, culture and ethnicity, health and disability. 

Your privacy will be respected, and any personal information you share will be kept confidential and secure. How your personal information will be processed, along with your rights is explained in our Personal Information Charter.

How you can give feedback about your Needs Assessment

After your Needs Assessment, you’ll be sent a survey asking you about your experience. You don’t need to complete this but we’d really appreciate any useful, constructive feedback you have for SLC and your Needs Assessment Provider. This will help us make improvements to the service we provide.

Your Needs Assessment Provider will have a Complaints Policy which you’ll be made aware of. If you’re not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint, you can ask for the matter to be escalated to SLC.

If you feel your experience did not meet any of the expectations above, you can share any concerns with SLC by contacting our Complaints team.

SLC administer the DSA scheme in accordance with policy guidance set by the Department for Education (Student Finance England) and Welsh Government (Student Finance Wales).