Who said what to whom?
David Willetts, Universities Minister, announced in a written statement to Parliament on 7th April that the Government was taking “measures to modernise the Disabled Students’ Allowances”.
What does it mean?
This is a highly specific use of the word "modernise", ie it translates as "cut." These allowances (DSAs) currently cost Government around £125m per year. This is up from £91.7m in 2008. Willetts didn’t state a new target figure but the overall thrust of the commitment is to “rebalance responsibilities between government funding and institutional support”.
So Government will spend less and students should petition their universities to meet the rest of their needs. There is also a hint that the companies who have been doing the assessments of students’ needs for specialist equipment or other help have been over-stating the case. In future they will go through a new requirement for registration.
What could go wrong?
The National Union of Students isn’t confident that universities will pick up the responsibility for disabled students easily. Colum McGuire, the Vice President for welfare, remarked, "It is likely that many students will fall through the cracks as a result of this withdrawal of support and associated ministerial buck passing." While the Government is planning to hand on many of its responsibilities there was certainly no public acknowledgement of receipt from Universities UK, the main umbrella body for institutions.
And the figures quoted by the Government don’t suggest this is a budget out of control. The proportion of students receiving some form of support for disability is up by a small margin from 3.19 per cent of all full-time undergraduates in 2008 to 3.75 per cent. This compares to an overall incidence of disability among working-age adults–according to the Government’s own figures–of 16 per cent.
When will we know?
The changes come into force in the academic year starting Autumn 2015. Though there is an equality impact assessment to come before then. Passing the assessment may require some more active cooperation from the universities or it may require the ambition for savings—or I should say modernisation—to be set at a modest level.
Commitment rating: 3
This is finely balanced. There is certainly pressure on the overall budget for higher education. And the cost per institution to take on more of the responsibility is limited. But there will be a campaign against these changes and perhaps legal challenges too depending on the detail.
David Willetts, Universities Minister, announced in a written statement to Parliament on 7th April that the Government was taking “measures to modernise the Disabled Students’ Allowances”.
What does it mean?
This is a highly specific use of the word "modernise", ie it translates as "cut." These allowances (DSAs) currently cost Government around £125m per year. This is up from £91.7m in 2008. Willetts didn’t state a new target figure but the overall thrust of the commitment is to “rebalance responsibilities between government funding and institutional support”.
So Government will spend less and students should petition their universities to meet the rest of their needs. There is also a hint that the companies who have been doing the assessments of students’ needs for specialist equipment or other help have been over-stating the case. In future they will go through a new requirement for registration.
What could go wrong?
The National Union of Students isn’t confident that universities will pick up the responsibility for disabled students easily. Colum McGuire, the Vice President for welfare, remarked, "It is likely that many students will fall through the cracks as a result of this withdrawal of support and associated ministerial buck passing." While the Government is planning to hand on many of its responsibilities there was certainly no public acknowledgement of receipt from Universities UK, the main umbrella body for institutions.
And the figures quoted by the Government don’t suggest this is a budget out of control. The proportion of students receiving some form of support for disability is up by a small margin from 3.19 per cent of all full-time undergraduates in 2008 to 3.75 per cent. This compares to an overall incidence of disability among working-age adults–according to the Government’s own figures–of 16 per cent.
When will we know?
The changes come into force in the academic year starting Autumn 2015. Though there is an equality impact assessment to come before then. Passing the assessment may require some more active cooperation from the universities or it may require the ambition for savings—or I should say modernisation—to be set at a modest level.
Commitment rating: 3
This is finely balanced. There is certainly pressure on the overall budget for higher education. And the cost per institution to take on more of the responsibility is limited. But there will be a campaign against these changes and perhaps legal challenges too depending on the detail.
