Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to introduce a means-test for the £200 self-contribution under the disabled students' allowance.

Means-tested living costs support for full-time undergraduate students from low income backgrounds increased by 10.3% in 2016/17 compared with the previous grants and loans package. There was a further increase of 2.8% for the current academic year, 2017/18, and a 3.2% increase for the 2018/19 academic year.

All higher education (HE) students now require access to a computer so this is considered a mainstream cost to participate in HE. Eligible HE students are able to access Maintenance Loans, which are paid as a contribution towards a student’s living costs, and we believe it is reasonable for any student to fund the purchase of a standard computer for email and word processing purposes from their maintenance support. The cost of a standard computer has been calculated at around £200.

Disabled students recommended that a higher-powered computer to run assistive software as part of a Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSAs) needs assessment are funded for computer costs in excess of £200. Students are not expected to fund any recommended assistive software or the training to use it.

DSAs are not means tested and we do not propose to introduce means testing for any particular element of that support.