Swansea University DSA Assessment Centre

DSAs are provided to cover the difference in costs that all students need to pay for, and additional, personal, study-related costs a person with a disability might incur. In some cases, disabled students may need to contribute towards some DSA related costs, but this will depend on your funding body. Here are some examples of when you may or may not be required to make contributions: 

• Normally, you will not be personally charged for your DSA Assessment. An inclusive fee of no more than £565 will be paid by your funding body (e.g. Student Finance Wales) to us for the completion of the assessment, report write up and any follow-up work required.

• Student Finance England students may be required to contribute towards the cost of computer equipment (usually no more than £200). If you are advised during your assessment that you need to make a contribution but anticipate difficulties, please tell the assessor. They will be able to advise of potential support options. 

• If you are recommended transport costs (e.g. a Taxi, or mileage) as part of your DSA, this will always be less the cost of the same journey on public transport, or a sum equivalent to that journey. You will need to pay this contribution- your funding body will advise how this takes place. 

• If you wish to consider upgrading computer equipment or other support recommended to a higher level, you will need to pay the difference between what is recommended and cost of the upgrade. You may also need to pay additional warranty and insurance fees. 

• If you are assessed before you enrol on a university course, receive recommended equipment, but do not start the course (or an alternative), your funding body may ask for some or all the equipment to be returned. This may also be the case if you withdraw from a course in the early stages without transferring to another. 

• It is likely that you may have already paid for diagnostic or medical evidence in order to meet the DSA eligibility criteria. If you disclose additional conditions that you wish to be considered in relation to the DSA, you will need to provide your funding body with suitable evidence. There is a possibility that further costs may be incurred in order to obtain this. We are happy to offer advise regarding additional conditions, and how they could best be handled in the context of DSA. 

• Support that can be covered via DSA can vary over time. There is a possibility that support that was permissible at undergraduate level may not continue to be recommendable if you continue to a post-graduate course. 

Potential costs and contributions are listed in funding body guidance that your assessor will need to apply during your assessment. Any potential costs we are aware of at the time will be clearly explained during the assessment and noted in your final DSA report. 

General concerns

Putting your DSA in place usually involves a number of organisations and parties. This can include:

• Your funding body
• Us (the assessment centre)
• Your university or education provider
• Equipment suppliers
• Trainers
• Non medical helper providers
• Third party providers
• Transport providers

Although we all work hard to anticipate, identify and resolve problems or delays , they can still sometimes occur. 

If you think something is wrong with the progress of your DSA, you are welcome to get in contact with us  We will aim to investigate your query and give an honest opinion about how it could be resolved. If we can resolve the issue ourselves, we will advise you when and how we are going to do this. If we think the issue relates to another party, we will advise you of this and of what actions could be taken. 

Concerns relating to an assessment or this centre

During your assessment, your assessor will explain what regulations they need to operate under, and what can and cannot be recommended. If you feel that you need more time to understand the details and recommendations in your report, you can ask to see and approve a drat copy of your report. This will give you the opportunity to discuss the report content and the decisions made on your behalf in the document with the assessor if necessary. If you have any concerns about your report, please use this option. The report will be formally agreed once you have approved the report. 

Alternatively, you have the option of formally agreeing the recommendations of the report in advance, at the end of the assessment. Follow this link if you have a concern about your DSA report after agreeing it. 

If the assessor is not able to resolve any concerns to your satisfaction, the query will be passed to the centre manager for resolution. If this is not possible, the manager will invite you to submit a formal complaint via the University's complaints procedure. This will ensure that your complaint is handled in an impartial manner. In some instances, the matter may be outside the scope of the assessment centre's remit. In this case the manager may refer you to the complaints procedure of another party (e.g. supplier or funding body). You can also  follow this link if you have a concern about the assessment centre

Formal complaint

If you feel something has happened that warrants a formal complaint, you are welcome to lodge this via the University complaints procedure. This would apply whether or not you are a Swansea University student. We would usually advise that you talk to us to discuss your concerns first (as noted above), however. 

The Swansea University complaints procedure can be found here.

Here is a summary of our data handling responsibilities:

• The centre is part of the DSA data chain. 
• We only collect information from you that your funding body requests. 
• They require detailed information on your situation to assist them to allocate DSA funds. 
• Your completed DSA report will be passed on to your funding body- we will confirm you are happy for this to occur. 
• We will also ask if you would like us to send a copy of your completed DSA report to your university/education provider or not. 
• If we feel you would benefit from other third parties being involved in aspects of your assessment, we will discuss these with you, and ask if you are happy with what we propose. 
• We ask you to sign a data-sharing agreement on behalf of the auditing body at the time of your assessment. Whether you consent to share data with the auditing body or not will not affect the outcome of your DSA award. 
• We are required to retain the information we have collected from you for extended periods, as the funding body may require us to do follow on work at any point within your remaining higher education career. 
• However, we are likely to dispose of all information relating to you if there has been no recent contact regarding you from the funding body, and we have not heard from you personally for seven years. 

If you wish to withdraw consent to share any data, please follow this link.

If you would like to invoke the right to be forgotten, please follow this link. 

Please note: as we are part of a data chain, requesting the above will not apply to all organisations in the chain. In addition, requesting the above may hinder or delay subsequent DSA applications. We will advise you on these risks on a case by case basis when we hear from you. 

Our full data policy is here. 

Please use the accessibility tools at the top of the page.