DSA forms and useful links

What evidence do I need to provide to apply for the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA)?

The evidence needs to:

1. be provided and signed by a medical or suitably qualified professional.
2. contain clear information about the professional's organisation such as a letter heading, details of the organisation in the email signature, an organisation's stamp etc.
3. demonstrate that the disability is long term - lasting or likely to last 12 months or more.
4. indicate there is a significant impact on your day-to-day life.
5. be written in English or be a formally certified translation.

Please note, if you have a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, your evidence needs to be in the form of a full diagnostic report carried out by a registered psychologist, qualified specialist teacher or similar. 

With the exception of students with Specific Learning Difficulties, you can use the Disabled Students' Allowance evidence form and ask the medical professional to complete this instead of a letter or report.

Please see the table below for further guidance:

Type of evidence	Suitable - yes or no
A diagnostic report written by an educational psychologist or qualified specialist teacher (this will be indicated on the front page of the report)	Yes
Evidence of previous exam arrangements from school, college or other educational provider such as JCQ Form 8	No
Results of a screening test such as QuickScan	No
A letter from a medical professional such as a GP, clinical specialist, hospital-based specialist, consultant, Psychiatrist, Community Psychiatric Nurse, Occupational Therapist containing details of a diagnosis and the long-term impact.	Yes
A referral for hospital admission or treatment. A hospital discharge document. A document summarising treatment received.	Probably not unless it contains the information outlined above.
A prescription or photograph of medications.	No
A sick note or fit note.	No

If you are unsure whether your evidence is suitable, you can email it to Disability Services and ask us to check it. Please make it clear in your email that you are asking us to check your evidence - thank you.

DSA information for students who applied for DSA before 26 February 2024

If you are part way through your DSA Application, for example:

• You have had your needs assessment but not received any equipment, assistive technology or training.
• You have had your needs assessment and your DSA2 letter but the support has not yet been arranged and the equipment has not been ordered.
• You have had notification that you are eligible for DSA but you have not yet booked your needs assessment.

or

If you need to update or change any element of your DSA, such as: 

• You require more hours from your Non-medical helper or specialist support worker.
• You want to change one of your suppliers.
• The impact of your disability has changed or you have an additional disability and you need a review of your support.
• You need to update the details of your travel arrangements because you have moved house or you are entitled to travel for placement and need to advise of a new placement location.

Please contact your original Needs Assessment Centre. If they are continuing to operate, they will be able to respond to the above queries.

If your Needs Assessment Centre is no longer operating, please pass your query to your funding body and they will either deal with your query or refer you to one of the new companies managing the DSA process:

Student Finance England:
Email dsa_teams@slc.co.uk 
Telephone: 0300 100 0607

Student Finance Wales:
Telephone: 0300 2004050

Funding bodies

DSA is administered by your funding body. Please click on the relevant link for you for further information about DSA and how to apply.

• England
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland
• Wales
• Jersey
• Guernsey
• Isle of Man
• National Health Service (NHS)

StudyTech Needs Assessment

If you are eligible for DSA and you have been referred to StudyTech for a needs assessment, you can book your assessment with them online. 

If you need to phone them, here's the details:

Telephone: 0204 532 2084

Option 1 for Needs Assessments
Option 2 for Orders
Option 3 for AT Training
Option 4 for Technical Support
Option 5 for Ergonomics

You can email them about your Needs Assessment, your equipment order or your assistive technology training (ATT) on one of the following email addresses:

assessments@study.tech 
orders@study.tech 
att@study.tech 

There is more information available on the StudyTech website.