Max amount of DSa taxi's per yr/sorting out mileage for different postcodes?

When I had my DSA assessment for foundation year, I had it in my DSA letter that they would pay for mileage for my mum to drive me to university and taxi allowance when she was unable to.

We spoke to the company again who changed my letter so it shoes taxi allowances from 23/24 onward.

2 questions:

1) My old campus where I was based for foundation year has a different postcode to the one I'm at now, previously SW15 5PJ, now SW15 4NA.

They updated the taxi allowance with my current postcode (additional to the old taxi allowance I didn't end up using with the old postcode) and the same with the mileage allowance. The company only added that to my DSA letter today, despite me emailing in early October to sort it out, just after I started uni. After confirming how many days I'd be at the new campus on the 13th October, I had no reply from the assessment centre, til my mum emailed a couple of days ago about booking taxis.

Would I be able to back claim mileage entitlement, which wouldn't be an insignificant amount (£91 reimbursement. 12.8 miles x 0.24p = £3.072, minus £1.65 public transport = 1.422 x 64 journeys throughout the semester) with the old journeys listed (if I can prove they only sent the updated letter now)?

The new updated mileage says they pay 11.1 miles per single journey and the public transport cost is £1.90 to the new postcode of SW15 4NA compared to the old mileage (still on my form) of 12.8 miles and £1.65 with the old postcode of SW15 5PJ.

From my house/postcode to the new campus (SW15 4NA) is, as of today, 12.76 miles (much longer than the 11.1 miles stated) on average (used Google Maps and the 3 distances listed and took the mean average) and the old campus (SW15 5PJ) today is 12.33 miles instead of the 12.8 miles listed (same method). It's taken me more than 12.76 miles to get to the new campus and more than 12.3 to get to the old campus.

If I can prove the mileage they're covering is way out (Google maps shows me the distance is 0.9 miles not 1.7) and I can prove it takes more than the 11.1 miles they cover to the new campus and 12.8 miles to the old campus (which is *closer to my house* so it really makes absolutely no sense how they calculated it would be 11.1 miles to the new campus and 12.8 to the older if my averages were 12.3 to the old one and 12.8 to the new one) as I have exams at both campus' next week and have a mileage app installed on my phone, would I be able to use the old one to reimburse me?

Which one would I use as they are so fussy when the numbers aren't right or the postcodes don't match (before you could declare as single/return journeys. The first time they paid me but the second time I did return journeys and specified, they refused the claim as the postcodes didn't match)?

2) how many taxis' can DSA supply per year?

Cos it's my first year, I'm only at uni 3 days a week. My mum is mostly unable to take me this semester (as was the case last semester; she's unable to make 2 return journeys 3x a week) so I'd have to organise taxis. My taxi allowance is 30 single journeys per year.

That doesn't even cover half my semester this year. 2 journeys a day 3x a week covers 5 weeks of my 12 week spring semester. For 2nd and 3rd year, it's possible I'll be at uni 5 days a week. That's 10 journeys a week, which would cover 3 weeks of a 12 week semester.

Is 30 journeys the most they can do? Is there a limit?

If my mum is unable or mostly unable to take me to uni, the uni is not within walking distance (1 hour drive one way with no traffic) and I can't take public transport alone so would have to rely on Ubers or Wheelys (which is what I have been doing a bit September-December 2023 semester. We haven't organised DSA taxis yet as my mum was under the impression you could hire a regular driver as we know someone who used to do that, and she didn't understand how to set it up). Wheelys and Ubers are much more than what the DSA reimburses for taxis, and my mum is already kindly paying my fees, so financially it would be much better if I could have the majority of my journeys covered by DSA funded taxis rather than enough for 5 weeks of my spring semester.

I also really don't understand where DSA have come up with a taxi costing £42.90/£41.25 reimbursement (£1.65 public transport) to the old campus (closer to my house) and £40.00/£38.10 reimbursement (£1.90 public transport) to the new campus (further away) because Bolt is putting a taxi to the old campus as between £57.90 and £86.80 and the new campus as £56-£84. FreeNow puts a taxi to the old campus at £53-68 and the new campus as £54-70...

Also they've worked out its cheaper to get a taxi from my house to the new campus despite it being further away and a higher public transport cost, so they'd be reimbursing me less - £38.10 per taxi instead of £41.25. Not a lot but with a larger number of journeys it adds up.
How do I query that?

What do I do in these situations?

Reply 1

blackeberg

SFE will consider changes with the right information. Maybe try AA routeplanner as that sometimes shows multiple routes and that a faster one is longer.

Up to 30 fares per academic year they usually refund receipts. For more trips than that they prefer invoice accounts. Does your needs assessement report show who provided the original fare quotes? If it was Addison Lee then they had to put their prices up in the middle of last year following the outcome of a court case so maybe the quote needs updating.

Student contribution - those sound like single bus / Oyster fares. It might be possible to ask for a reduction based on dividing an annual student TfL travelcard by 365.

Any update requests should ideally go through your original needs assessor but the recent changes mean that the assessment centre could have closed down. Contact SFE directly at [email protected] if you can’t contact the original centre or assessor.