Filling in the DSA application form: England Applying for Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA): England

Completing Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA): A guide for OU students in England

Welcome to this video about completing Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) forms, a guide for OU students in England. This video has been created from a recording of a live event held on the 2nd of July 2024. All student questions and names have been removed.  

Well welcome everybody to this Open University Disability support Disabled Students’ Allowance event.

So, the agenda is: What disability support at the OU does; What do we mean by disability?; What is Disabled Students’ Allowance?; What can DSA pay for? (So we commonly know Disabled Students’ Allowance as DSA.); We'll then look at us answering some frequently asked questions about DSA.; We'll go through the DSA form.; We'll then talk to you about what happens after you have submitted a DSA form and that will be the content of our session. 

So what does disability support at the OU do? So we support you with the Disabled Students’ Allowance process. We don't necessarily administrate it because we're not the funding holders, but we do lend support to the application and the process itself. We'll give you advice on completing the DSA form, but what we cannot do is advise you on the eligibility status that you may have. 

We also create what we call Disability Profiles for students, and this is all information about you and how you like to study and what we can do to support you while you study. They're used by you and your tutor to get the conversation started about the support and any reasonable adjustments you need for study. Profiles can also advise other staff in Student Support on how to support you best. 

We also have a team within Disability Support who provides specialist advice and training to other OU colleagues on supporting students with disabilities. 

So what do we mean by disability? So not everyone who is eligible for Disabled Students’ Allowance will consider themselves disabled. You can apply if you have a condition that would meet the definition of disability and that is under the Equality Act 2010, and you need to demonstrate that this disability affects your abilities to study. 

You are disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. If you have a condition that might affect your study, even if you don't consider yourself disabled, the DSA is a source of additional funding and support that you may be able to access. Examples include specific learning difficulties, mental health conditions, physical disabilities, sensory disabilities and long-term health conditions. 

What is Disabled Students’ Allowance? So DSA is support to cover essential additional study related costs you have because of a mental health problem, long-term illness or any other disability. DSA is not means tested and support is based on your individual needs, not your household income. It does not affect any of the any of the other benefits that you may receive. You do not need to pay back DSA. So DSA is a government grant. It is not provided by The Open University. It is managed by Student Finance England who oversee they also oversee student loans to fund tuition fees. And you do not have to be funding your studies via a student loan to be eligible for DSA. 

Some commonly asked questions that we get are things like what can DSA pay for? So it pays for things like specialist equipment, for example a computer. Not everybody will qualify, and you will need to pay the first £200 if you do qualify. Pays for things like non-medical help, that's for example things like British Sign Language interpreters or study skills specialists and also things printer cartridges and paper it can also pay for. It does not cover disability related costs that you have if you weren't studying or costs that any student would have. Just as a note, you may be able to access financial support from the University for the for a contribution of £200 towards the laptop. So what you would need to do is contact the University about that. 

Another question that we get is things like do I need, what if I need to fill in a paper copy? So for instance, if you need a paper copy or you require an alternative format of the form such as Braille, you would need to contact Student Finance England directly.

Do I qualify for DSA? So we're unable to advise on individual cases. You would need to contact Student Finance England, but if you're a resident, you're disabled and your study is linked with qualification, this is a good starting point.

If you're studying on an Access Module alone [or a standalone module], then you need to link your module to a qualification. So that's a certificate, diploma or a degree to be eligible for DSA. This does not tie you into future study if you change your mind. And to link to the module, all you need to do is contact the Student Recruitment Team in the University.

And then is there a time limit for applying for DSA? So we always say please, please submit your application as early as possible and not later than nine months after you start your academic year. Your first application can take 14 weeks, and it can sort of be busier at other times of the year, I've seen it go up to sort of 16 weeks plus at times. So we always say please just apply as soon as you can and you must reapply for DSA each year, but you won't go through the full assessment every year. I guess that would only be if there was any significant changes to a condition, but generally it is just a case of reapplying every year.  

[06:32 on screen: Always complete the “DSA1” Form, not the “DSA Slim” form]

Okie, dokie. So I'm just going to reiterate some of the points that were covered earlier. So we will be mainly focusing on the 24/25 DSA form. And it's most importantly, it's the DSA1 full form. So that's the form that we're going to be sort of looking at and going through. So if you're just starting your studies this autumn, then you'll be a 24/25 academic year. If you've done studies previously or if you're unsure about your academic year, you just need to get in touch with us and we can sort of point you in the right direction and let you know what form you need to be filling in exactly. But so the two forms that are sort of going back and forth at the moment, like I say a 24/25 and then there is a 23/24, but it must always be the DSA1 full form that you'll need to be completing. 

Now you don't have to necessarily submit evidence every time and you won't have to go for a needs assessment every time like Claire was saying. But yeah, if you're unsure about anything, of course you can contact the team. But to sort of be focusing at the moment on the 24/25 application. 

[07:49: Page 2 of the DSA form] 

So we're looking at the first couple of pages in the form at the moment. So who should be completing this form? Now, if you're studying at 60 credits, 30 credits, 120 credits, you're always going to be classed as a part-time student at The Open University. So regardless of how many credits you're studying, even if it's at that full-time intensity, it's still just a part-time application, whether that's undergraduate or postgraduate. 

[08:23 on screen: Studying at full-time intensity (120 credits per year) with the OU? Classes as a “Part-Time” student for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA).]

Yeah, it's still that part-time box that you'll need to be ticking. 

[08:30 on screen: Postgraduate Healthcare course? Apprenticeship? Not eligible for DSA. Contact the Disability Support Team for more info about support that may be available.] 

Now, if you're studying on a nursing qualification or an apprenticeship, then this might not be the right form for you. So I'd say get in touch with the team again and we can talk you through what other options there might be for you or do a little bit more digging.  

It's not quite as straightforward as a process, but so just a sort of, yeah, caveat if you are on one of the qualifications that it says there or if you're studying an apprenticeship, this might not be the right form for you.

[08:57 on screen: If you are on the following Nursing qualifications, you will need to contact us to check which DSA is right for you. This may not be the right form: R39, Q73, Q74.] 

So yeah, get in touch with us and we can point you in the right direction. 

[09:09: Section 1 Personal details] 

And then the next section that you'll be asked to complete. Now the form itself does look quite daunting, but these first couple of pages, they're all just about yourself. 

[09:21 on screen: Complete all sections that apply to you.] 

So it's your customer reference number. Now. You would have got this if you've applied for a tuition fee loan, but if you don't have that yet, don't worry because Student Finance will give you a customer reference number. If you don't know it now, it doesn't matter. You can leave that part blank for now.  

But then this, this first section is just all about you. So name, address, if you've got a passport, the passport number. If not, what you need to do all of those sorts of things like submitting a birth certificate instead. So you just need to complete all of the sections that that apply to you.  

[10:02 on screen: n Check the Guidance Notes for help completing a question.] 

So if you see this n on the, the form, then there is a guidance notes that SFE have to go along with the form that you can take a look at. And it just goes through some common sort of queries and examples that might come up when you're answering these questions.  

[10:22 on screen: e Indicates where you need to send evidence. Refer to Guidance Notes.]  

And then the, the e symbol that says that you need to provide some sort of evidence. So in these first couple of sections, that would be stuff like your birth certificate. And then obviously later on when we get later into the form, that would be things like disability documentation. 

But yeah, so the n is for guidance and the e is for evidence. If you see those on the form, that's what they mean. 

[10:50: Section 2 Other financial support.] 

So we're on to Section 2 of the form.  

Now if you're an undergraduate student, you need to complete those first 3 highlighted boxes, so A1, A2 and A3. 

If you tick yes to any of the options in that section, then it might suggest that this is not quite the correct form for you to fill in and you would need to seek advice from your Bursary provider. 

So that's just one example, that might be students that are on a nursing degree who might be eligible for DSA through the NHS bursary scheme rather than through the sort of standard Disabled Students’ Allowance scheme. So again, you would need to check about the eligibility with your bursary provider directly. But if you are ticking yes to any of those options, it is definitely worth kind of checking that you're definitely completing the right form before you go through the rest of the form.  

If you're a postgraduate student, you need to complete those questions under section b, so you can leave section a if you are postgrad. 

[11:51: Section 3 Residence (Pages 7 to 23)] 

Pages 7 to 23 are all kind of around financial eligibility with things like residency status. And there are so many unique circumstances that might apply to individual students around these pages that there isn't kind of generic advice that we can give you on these, these pages.  

So if you do have any queries on any of this section of the form, then those are definitely questions that need to be pointed towards Student Finance England. 

As we said, we'll be providing all the contact details that you could possibly need, hopefully after the session. And you can, or you can also look on the Student Finance website if you do need to contact them.  

But yeah, so unfortunately we can't really provide much advice on these sections, but hopefully the next bit will be more helpful. 

[12:48 on screen: For many of you who are a UK resident, this section should be fairly straightforward and you can skip many pages.] 

If you are a UK resident, a lot of the questions in these pages will not need to be filled in and you may well be able to skip through many of these pages. So hopefully that will apply to some of you and make it a little bit more straightforward for some people who are here. 

[13:07 on screen: If you are not a UK resident or not sure how to complete any of these sections, don’t be put off, you may still be able to get DSA – you will need to consult Student Finance yourself.] 

But yeah, if you are not a UK resident or you're not sure how to complete any of those sections, that doesn't mean that you won't be able to get DSA. So if you're struggling with completing any of those bits, it, don't assume that you're not eligible. It just means that you need to give Student Finance a call and get a little bit more guidance. 

[13:26: Section 4 About your course and university or college] 

OK, on to Section 4. The first box question A on there is the university or college details. So you're just going to fill in the University, The Open University's address there, which is on screen for you now. 

[13:32 on screen: The Open University, Walton Hall, Kents Hill, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA] 

The next box down is your, going to be your qualification, OU qualification code.  

[13:38 on screen: OU Qualification Code, e.g., “QD”, “Q01”] 

So if you are already registered in your qualification, you'll be able to see this via your StudentHome page and it will be a code, for example, like QD, QO1. And that's what goes into the first box in section B. 

[13:58 on screen: Any modules already completed, or any you are currently reserved/registered on.]

The second box on section B is where you would fill in any modules you've already completed or any that you are currently reserved or registered on. So again, that will be any modules that you've kind of signed up for and are showing as either with a reservation or registration on your StudentHome page.  

[14:19 on screen: Full name of qualification e.g., Certificate in Psychology, BSc in Physics etc.] 

The next one is the full name of the qualification. So whereas the kind of QD/Q01 was the OU qualification code, this is the full name. So it might be Certificate in Psychology, BSc in Physics.  

So it will usually be either a Certificate or Diploma, or BSc/BA, whatever the qualification is and then what the subject is that you are completing. Again, if you're not exactly sure what to write, that will be if you have already registered for your qualification, that will be on your StudentHome page.  

And then the next section is definitely more designed for students in brick universities and not studying the way that things are set up for the OU. You can't always predict exactly how you're going to do your studies.   

[14:56 on screen: Complete based on anticipated plans. E.g., if you intend to study 1 x 60 Credit Module per year towards an Undergraduate Degree, It will take you 6 years. E.g., if you were studying as per the above, and starting your third 60 credit module, tick “3rd year”.] 

If you're doing it part time, you don't know whether you might want to take a break in five years’ time from your studies or something like that. But just fill this next section in based on your anticipated plans. It doesn't matter, because you reapply every year, it doesn't matter if your plans subsequently change. 

So let's say if you're thinking of studying at kind of what we call 50% intensity, so your full undergraduate degree, 360 credits and you're planning to study one 60-credit module a year. If you did it that way, it would take you six years to complete. And then you just need to say which year of your study you're in. So if you're just starting, obviously that's your first year.  

Again, if you're not sure what to complete in this section and we would suggest you give us a call, we can hopefully help you work out what you need to put in here. And if we're not sure, we will be honest with you, and we'll point you towards SFE to, to make sure that you get that bit filled in correctly. 

The box at the bottom about franchised to other universities, there are none of our courses that you should need to fill that in for. 

OK, the next page of Section 4. So for Terms 1, 2 and 3, again, this is a form where it's not really designed for the OU, but we don't really have terms in the same way. But for these ones you're going to tick studying at university or college for all terms.  

That is what we've kind of agreed with Student finance makes sense. It might not make sense if you're thinking, well I, this is distance learning, I'm studying at home, but that is the correct thing to tick for that section of the form.  

And then sections d1 and d2, you don't need to complete. The next page as well of Section 4, page 26 you can leave completely blank. 

[17:00 Section 5 Your university or college] 

OK, so Section 5. This is one of the sections of the form that we get the most queries about, the most questions about. So yeah, just really make sure that you kind of follow the advice on this one.  

Whenever we're talking to any of our students about DSA, we like, for example, if we're just initially talking to you about it because we've been communicating with you about something else, we will always put as much information in about this to be really clear about it as well. But the more places we can highlight it, the better.  

So it says at the top of Section 5, please ask your university or college to complete this section and it will say to send it to us. You don't need to do that. 

[17:40 on screen: IGNORE THIS STATEMENT. You do NOT need to send your form to the OU] 

So again, this is another place where student finance have kind of the form is designed for lots of other universities, not quite right for us. And again, we haven't quite won our battle in getting either the form made more clear or changed for us. But so that's why we're giving as much information as we can.  

So there are no circumstances where you need to send your form to us. So just completely ignore that section.  

You can leave the entirety of Section 5 blank. 

[18:12 on screen: Leave all sections blank.] 

After you submit your DSA form, send that off to Student Finance. They will then contact us by e-mail, and we will send all the relevant information over to them that they need to know about what you're studying, what your kind of course dates are, and all of that information.  

Occasionally this causes confusion where students will call student finance and check about filling in this section and they will get mis-advice from DSA, and DSA will accidentally mix up which university you're with and will still tell you to send this to us. But please be reassured, you don't need to send it to us. You can send this straight to student finance.  

So if you do get mis-advised and you're confused at all, feel free to give us a call just to confirm. But yeah, but that's, can't say strongly enough. You don't need to send it to us. 

[19:09: Section 6 Your disability] 

OK, so Section 6 is your disability.  

So what counts as a disability for DSA? So to be eligible, you should have a disability that affects your ability to study such as specific learning difficulty, for example, dyslexia, ADHD, a mental health condition, for example, anxiety and depression or a physical disability.  
So maybe you have to use crutches or a wheelchair or a special keyboard or sensory. So visually impaired, deaf and have a hearing impairment or a long-term health condition, for example, cancer, chronic heart disease or HIV. And there's a link there at the bottom which gives you further information on DSA eligibility.  

[19:50 on screen: Source: https://www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowance-dsa/eligibility] 

So what evidence do I need to provide? 

[20:05 on screen: Table of proof required as evidence, which can be found on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowance-dsa/eligibility]  

So there has been a lot of questions about this in the chat. So hopefully this kind of covers some of that off and then obviously any other questions further from that we can, we can go through at the end.  

So evidence that you need to provide. So we've just got some conditions there. So long-term health condition, mental health condition would be, proof would be maybe a copy of a report or a letter from the doctor or a consultant and there is obviously further evidence there. So if you have a long-term health condition, there is a link there for a disability evidence form. 

[20:26: Link to Disability evidence form on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-students-allowance-evidence-form] 

And the specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, you would be looking for a copy of a diagnostic assessment from a practitioner, psychologist or suitably qualified specialist teacher. 

So a bit about ADHD and Autism Diagnosis Waiting Lists. So some students on a case-by-case basis have accessed DSA support for suspected ADHD and/or autism. And this is based on a working diagnosis. 

So if you are able to obtain evidence to support this from your GP, we would advise sending that along with any other evidence that you've got when you're applying.  

Working diagnoses for other conditions may also be considered, so it's always worth applying. 

OK, so financial support for obtaining supporting evidence for DSA. So sometimes there's a cost associated with obtaining evidence that you require for DSA, and you may be able to apply for financial support with these costs from The Open University and that's from our Study-related Costs Fund (SRCF).  

You can apply for support from Study-related Costs Funds towards the cost of things like a doctor's letter or a diagnostic assessment for a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and/or dysgraphia.  

If you are awarded a laptop via DSA, you will be required to make a contribution towards this and that is the first £200. And again, Study-related Costs Funds may be able to support with the funding of this cost. So it's always worth getting in touch with us.  

So please note that neither DSA or the OU is able to support with funding for ADHD or autism diagnostic assessments.  

And always remember do not send originals of evidence into SFE. So on this form here it says just send copies. So just photocopies or scan copies would be sufficient.

We recommend that students give consent to share by ticking both boxes in this next page here.  

[22:39: The two tick boxes under question b. Consent to share DSA] 

But if you do not give consent to share, you will receive information via e-mail that you will need to share with Disability Support at the OU and potentially some suppliers involved in delivering your support. 

So if you did not want to give consent to share, we would always ask that you look out for these and pass these correspondence on to us as quickly as possible because this would minimalise any delays to the getting the support in place.   

The benefit of ticking consent to share, if you are happy to do so, is it allows us to speak to SFE on your behalf if you're having any difficulties. So if you haven't ticked consent to share, we sort of hit a wall and we can't kind of communicate with them. And that sometimes can be sort of frustrating for you. So if you're happy to do it, we'd always recommend ticking consent to share.  

[23:32: Section 7 Your UK bank or building society account details.]  

So the bottom half of the form here, you are asked to provide bank details. This is in case SFE need to reimburse you for any costs that are as part of your award. For example, printing allowance. That probably could be the main thing to be honest printing allowance. So if you pop that in there, that's what they are asking for the details for.  

[23:54: Terms and Conditions]  

And then the next page is the Terms and Conditions. So obviously we recommend that you read through the terms and conditions. But any questions that you have regarding those terms and conditions, we'd have to obviously ask you to contact SFE because they're their terms and conditions.

[24:08: Checklist] 

And then there is a little checklist. So again, really recommend that you use the checklist to just make sure that you've got everything that you need to be sending into them. So use this as a final check that you've completed the relevant sections and you've included any necessary paperwork, copies of evidence, etc., before sending off your DSA application.  

And the next page is for additional notes. So you only need to complete this page if you've run out of space to list your disabilities on page 29, section 6. Otherwise, you can just leave this one blank.

OK, so that's what you need to fill in on all the relevant sections of the form. And then we're just going to kind of explain what happens after you submit your DSA form.  

So you'll send your form off to Student Finance England. We do recommend if you've got the facility to, send it off by e-mail rather than by post. You can send all your evidence as scanned copies attached to an e-mail as well. It just tends to be quicker if you send it by e-mail and it prevents anything getting lost in the post as well.  

There is sometimes a question about whether or not your, the form has to be kind of printed out and signed. And so because I think it does say somewhere in the guidance that it must be signed in ink. SFE have confirmed that you do not need to sign your form in ink. So it's absolutely fine to just write your name in the signature box and send your form off electronically.  

We do recommend if you're comfortable to you that you tick consent to share. And as long as you have ticked that what will happen next is Student Finance England will contact us and they'll ask us to confirm some basic information about the course that you've registered on. And that's the bits that the, that is the replacement to you filling in Section 5. 

If you haven't ticked consent to share, if you're not comfortable to do that, that is absolutely fine. It's just really important that you look out for the e-mail that SFE will send to you. And you need to forward it on to us so that we can complete that process for you. 

[26:06 on screen: (If you haven’t ticked “consent to share” SFE will send you on an email that you need to forward to us via disability-support@open.ac.uk.] 

Because your DSA application won't move forward until we've been able to confirm what course you're studying, when you're studying and those details. 

So once those steps have happened, if you're eligible for DSA, you'll then be invited for a needs assessment. 

So these will take place with one of two providers around the UK that's dependent on where in the country that you live. And that will be down to the individual provider that is conducting your needs assessment, whether or not that's online or in person. But there are kind of expectations on those providers that it should be within a reasonable distance of where you live if it is a face-to-face assessment. 

So if you feel that the, if you've been invited and required to go face-to-face and it doesn't feel like a reasonable distance, you could contact SFE for advice and they may be able to provide you with a bit more information about what might be possible. 

So once you've had your needs assessment, a report will be produced and that will be sent to you and then that will be followed by your Award letter which confirms what you have been awarded through the Disabled Students’ Allowance. 

I know that sometimes needs assessments can, can feel like a bit of a nerve-wracking process, but they really are a conversation with an assessor who's going to be asking questions about how your disabilities affect you, how you think they might affect your studies. If you have studied before, how you have managed previously, what kind of coping strategies you have in place, all these kind of things. 

It really is a conversation. It's not an interrogation or anything like that. And it's just to get as much information from you as possible about the support that you're going to need so that they can make the recommendations that are going to hopefully allow you to succeed with your studies. 

So a copy of your Needs Assessment Report, as we said, will be sent to you followed by the DSA award letter. And as long as you have filled in that consent to share, we'll also receive a copy of those. And then once you receive your DSA award letter, make sure you read it in full. 

 
So it will contain important information about what you need to do next in order to actually get your study in place. So things like if you've been awarded a non-medical helper, there will be steps that you need to take to actually get that support, get the ball rolling on that support.  

So do make sure you read all of that information and retain your award letter and your needs assessment in a safe place because you might need these at a later date throughout the duration of your study. So yeah, really important to kind of keep those somewhere safe.

If you need to contact the disability support team at The Open University, they can be contacted on 01908 541 082 or e-mail us at disability-support@open.ac.uk. 

If you need to contact Student Finance England about the Disabled Students’ Allowance, you can contact them on 0300 100 0607 or e-mail them at dsa_team@slc.co.uk. 

All of these contact details can also be found in the transcript of this video or the video notes.

So all that remains to say is thank you very much for listening and we hope that you have found this guide to applying for Disabled Students’ Allowance in England useful and informative. 

Thank you and goodbye.