Students: Disabled
Business, Innovation and Skills
Written answers and statements, 3 November 2009
David Willetts (Shadow Secretary of State for Universities and Skills (Family Policy), Universities and Skills; Havant, Conservative)
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students in each region have received disabled students' allowance in each year since its introduction.
David Lammy (Minister of State (Higher Education and Intellectual Property), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Tottenham, Labour)
As part of widening participation, the Government gives generous financial support to disabled students in higher education. Disabled students' allowances (DSAs) are available to help with the extra costs students may incur on their course as a direct result of a disability, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty. DSAs are paid in addition to the standard student support package; they are not means tested and do not have to be repaid.
In 2009/10 eligible undergraduate students may receive the following:
| Allowance | Maximum payable to eligible full-time undergraduates (£) | Maximum payable to eligible part-time undergraduates (£) |
| Specialist equipment allowance (for the duration of the course) | 5,161 | 5,161 |
| Non-medical helper allowance | 20,520 | 15,390 |
| General allowance | 1,724 | 1,293 |
| Travel allowance | Unlimited | Unlimited |
For postgraduate students (full or part-time) there is one allowance to meet all costs, up to £10,260 in 2009/10.
Information on DSA by region is set out in the following table
| Recipients of disabled student allowances by academic year and region( 1) | ||||
| Thousand | ||||
| Region of recipients latest home postcode( 2) | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08( 3) |
| East Midlands | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| East of England | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 3.5 |
| London | 5.6 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 6.2 |
| North East | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 |
| North West | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 4.7 |
| South East | 5.5 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 6.9 |
| South West | 3.9 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.8 |
| West Midlands | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.5 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| Scotland | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Wales | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Unknown(4) | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
| Total England domiciled at time of application | 32.3 | 35.6 | 38.2 | 40.7 |
| (1) DSA claims can be made retrospectively against earlier academic years. Table shows data at 31 March 2009. (2) The table covers students who were domiciled in England at the time of their first application for student support. The region shown relates to the postcode of the latest home address held by SLC, which may be the recipients address after leaving university. Some recipients from England have subsequently moved to Scotland or Wales. (3) Provisional. (4) Unknown covers those with missing or invalid postcode information, and English domiciled recipients who subsequently moved abroad. Consistent data are not available before academic year 2004/05. Source: Student Loans Company (SLC) | ||||