Disabled Students’ Allowance – Study Needs Assessment

If you’re eligible for DSA, we’ll send you a letter with details of your supplier to arrange your needs assessment. If you give permission, we’ll pass your details directly to the supplier who’ll be in touch to arrange this.

The assessment is paid for through any DSA entitlement you may have.

Your needs assessment

This is an informal meeting with an experienced needs assessor to talk about what equipment and support will help you get the most from your course.

A needs assessment is different from a diagnostic assessment, which is used as evidence of dyslexia. Even if you’ve had a diagnostic assessment, you must also have a needs assessment.

You should make sure you send any evidence your supplier has asked for to your needs assessor, before you attend your needs assessment. This will be the same evidence you’ve given us as part of your application for DSA.

After you’ve attended your needs assessment, we’ll get a report with the needs assessors’ recommendations. You’ll get another letter to tell you what DSA your entitled to, once this has been confirmed.

Arranging your needs assessment

Once you’ve been made eligible for DSA:

  • your supplier will be in touch within 5 working days of getting your DSA1 eligibility letter
  • you’ll be offered a needs assessment appointment within 7 working days of your initial contact with the supplier
  • we’ll get a copy of your needs assessment report and we’ll send your DSA2 entitlement letter within 10 working days.