Disabled Students' Allowances
(asked on 23rd April 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many registered disabled students in (a) further and (b) higher education have received support from his Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
A number of financial support schemes are available to eligible 16-19 year olds (up to 25 years of age if they have an Education, Health and Care Plan) to help with the costs associated with staying in post-16 education. This can include support for travel, educational trips, and course equipment costs, childcare funding (for young parents under 20) and support with accommodation costs. In particular, the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund targets support at young people who most need help with the costs of staying on in post-16 education and training. Students in defined vulnerable groups – young people in care, care leavers, those on income support (or Universal Credit) and disabled young people in receipt of both Employment and Support Allowance (or Universal Credit) and Disability Living Allowance (or Personal Independence Payments) – may receive yearly bursaries of £1,200 a year (pro-rata for part-timers). For learners aged 19 and above, providers are able to access Learner Support funding to help learners with a specific financial hardship to help meet costs such as transport, accommodation, books, equipment and childcare.
The table below provides information on the numbers of eligible English-domiciled students who have applied for and received higher education Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) in the last five years.
| Full-time undergraduate students | Part-time undergraduate students | Postgraduate students | |||
Academic year | Number of students | Amount paid | Number of students | Amount paid | Number of students | Amount paid |
2011/12 | 53,300 | £125.1m | 3,000 | £7.9m | 4,700 | £11.8m |
2012/13 | 56,600 | £127.6m | 3,000 | £7.3m | 4,900 | £10.9m |
2013/14 | 60,200 | £134.2m | 2,700 | £6.6m | 5,600 | £11.9m |
2014/15 | 59,900 | £132.2m | 3,500 | £8.6m | 5,800 | £11.0m |
2015/16 | 58,900 | £115.6m | 3,800 | £8.9m | 5,600 | £10.6m |
2016/17* | 54,900 | £92.1m | 3,400 | £6.4m | 7,100 | £11.4m |
*Figures for 2016/17 are provisional.
(Source: Student Loans Company. http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx).
Although we do not yet have full-year data for 2016/17, we expected to see a reduction in DSAs’ take-up from 2016/17 as higher education providers are now expected to provide less-specialist non-medical help for disabled students as part of their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.