DSA "General Allowance"

So I know with DSA that you have a needs assessment and they discuss your needs in terms of equipment. What confuses me is this general allowance of up to £1750. Does everyone get that? Or is it dependant on needs/type of disability?

This whole thing confuses me! It's so subjective because each person is different but makes it difficult to know what might be awarded!

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Reply 1

morecambebay

The general allowance is for things such as travel costs and extra ink cartridges.

Reply 2

Ice_Queen

General allowance is for ink and stuff like that, it has to be reclaimed at the end of the year, with receipts.

I didn't bother though, to be honest.

Reply 3

sweetnesspink

Ahh so it also is reciept based. I wasn't sure if it was or wasn't. I can't imagine spending that much on ink in a year!

Reply 4

Jennie1987

sweetnesspink

Ahh so it also is reciept based. I wasn't sure if it was or wasn't. I can't imagine spending that much on ink in a year!

Ink, paper, books (not core textbooks), photocopying, internet line rental..

Reply 5

sweetnesspink

Even still. That's a lot of money for those things. What kind of books? Hmm. The whole dsa thing confuses me somewhat.

Reply 6

Jennie1987

sweetnesspink

Even still. That's a lot of money for those things. What kind of books? Hmm. The whole dsa thing confuses me somewhat.

Well it doesnt matter about their general terms, it matters what you get.

Reply 7

sweetnesspink

Jennie1987

Well it doesnt matter about their general terms, it matters what you get.

Excuse me? I'm not sure I get what you mean. What do you mean it doesn't matter about their general terms? I'm just trying to understand it all a bit better.

Reply 8

Jennie1987

sweetnesspink

Excuse me? I'm not sure I get what you mean. What do you mean it doesn't matter about their general terms? I'm just trying to understand it all a bit better.

Well the general amount is £1700 but you might only get £200 towards books, £150 towards paper, ink and photocopying and £10 towards tapes and batteries (for a dictaphone or something). So you can see that the general amount can be misleading as there are people with severe disabilities who obviously have lots of things so get that amount whereas most only get a few hundred. Its also for things like testing e.g my Irlens test was attributed a very big chunk of money (imo).

Reply 9

sweetnesspink

I had an irlens test ten years ago but I'm not sure my glasses are still right for me. I might bring that up at my assessment.

Thanks for the help!

Reply 10

jojospacemunky

ive just had my report (draft form) sent for me to read and check but my recommendations for support are:
general allowance will cover - funding for internet access primarily in my 2nd and 3rd year only as its provided in my halls for my 1st year
£200 a year allocated towards printing, computing and recording consumables and halls insurance (ive to keep all receipts)
£200 maximum in taxi allowance (getting a receipt from taxi company)

thats the only things covered in my general allowance
ive been recommended to get a laptop, voice dictation software, dictaphone, all in one printer though!

Reply 11

Jennie1987

sweetnesspink

I had an irlens test ten years ago but I'm not sure my glasses are still right for me. I might bring that up at my assessment.

Thanks for the help!

Yeh Ive only had mine a couple of months and Im going for a recheck next week lol

Reply 12

ninja-lewis

OP, are you applying to SAAS? They seem to do things slightly different to England so the answers above might not apply to you.

As for the basic allowance, you only get what you apply for. Thus my disability advisor put down £200 for "Sundries" in my later applications, which I got upfront. Supposedly for general expenses like printing but I just used it for general university expenses - books, research trip etc. No need for receipts or anything (nobody ever asked me for them anyway).

The other reason the Basic Allowance is so high is to allow you to top up the allowances for large items of equipment and non-medical personal help if you necessary.

Reply 13

sweetnesspink

Yeah I'm applying through saas. I didn't realise it was different. That's interesting.

Reply 14

ScreamYourHeartOut

whats classed as a core text book and whats not?

Reply 15

River85

Original post by ScreamYourHeartOut

whats classed as a core text book and whats not?

A book "all students are expected to buy" is the usual guide. There are usually sround one to three books in a course (often general books) which all students are expected, or strongly recoomended, to purchase.

Reply 16

BigV

Original post by River85

Hi, sorry to hijack but you you know if I would be able to claim back the cost for some software......

I have been recommended to get taco HTML edit (what the uni is using) to practice with at home because labs are difficult. Costs about £20 and I'm wondering if this would come under the 'general allowance'.

Reply 17

River85

Original post by BigV

This will probably come under specialist equipment. Any software I have claimed for has come under specialist equipment, I think.

If you have maxed out the specialist equipment component (which is unlikely but obviously I don't know) then it may be possible to claim under the general allowance.

I don't know for certain though so it's probably best if you contact Student Finance/your funding body.

Reply 18

BigV

Original post by River85

Ok thanks. Pretty sure I have no equipment allowance so I may give it a go on the general allowance.

Anyone have any idea how long it normally takes for them to refund these things? I put in for a significant refund of cost (accommodation) 3 weeks ago and I have heard nothing so far. Would be useful to get the money soonish. :redface:

Reply 19

River85

Original post by BigV

I have little experience with Student Finance England as I dealt with my LEA until this year (when it was fully transferred to SFE - until then students who began before 2006 remained with their LEA). I only asked to be reimbursed Internet costs during the summer and it took them around a month if I remember correctly. My LEA were quicker and more efficient :frown: