Information regarding Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) Assessment Provision in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

Information relating to the provision of Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) needs assessments in Scotland.

PART A: Validated Institutions

1. Please provide a complete and current list of all colleges and universities in Scotland that are validated by SAAS to carry out DSA needs assessments for Scottish-domiciled students.

2. For each validated institution, please provide:

• Full institution name
• Date when validation was granted
• Whether validation is currently active or suspended
• Number of DSA assessments conducted in each of the last three academic years (2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 to date)

3. Please provide the current validation criteria and process that institutions must meet to become approved DSA assessment providers.

4. Please confirm the current list of institutions that are NOT validated to conduct assessments (your published guidance currently lists Edinburgh Napier University, The Open University, and The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

PART B: Access Centres

5. Please provide:

• Contact details (institutional email/phone, not personal) for each of the three designated Access Centres (University of Dundee, Edinburgh College, New College Lanarkshire)
• Number of referrals made to each Access Centre in each of the last three academic years
• Average waiting times for appointments at each Access Centre
• Geographic catchment areas or referral criteria for each Access Centre

PART C: Independent Assessors

6. Please confirm whether SAAS currently approves or contracts with any independent or freelance DSA needs assessors who operate outside of validated institutions and Access Centres.

7. If such assessors exist:

• How many are currently approved/contracted?
• What are their business/trading names (not personal names)?
• What geographic areas do they serve?
• How many assessments have they collectively conducted in the last academic year?

8. If no independent assessors currently operate, please confirm when this arrangement ceased and provide any documentation explaining the policy decision.

PART D: Assessment Fees and Quality Assurance

9. Please provide the current fee structure paid by SAAS for needs assessments, including:

• Standard assessment fee paid to institutions
• Fee for home visits (if different)
• Travel expenses rates for assessors
• Any variation in fees between providers

10. Please provide any quality assurance frameworks, guidelines, or training requirements that assessors must meet to conduct SAAS-approved DSA needs assessments.

PART E: Historical Context

11. SAAS guidance documents reference that "a list of all of the colleges, universities and Access Centres in Scotland that are validated to carry out needs assessments for the purposes of DSA is available on our website at www.saas.gov.uk".

Please either:

• Provide the direct URL to this list, or
• Provide the list as a document if it is no longer publicly accessible

Response

PART A: Validated Institutions

1. Please provide a complete and current list of all colleges and universities in Scotland that are validated by SAAS to carry out DSA needs assessments for Scottish-domiciled students.

Validated Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are as follows:

• Ayrshire College
• City of Glasgow College
• Dumfries and Galloway College
• Dundee and Angus College
• Edinburgh College
• Fife College
• Forth Valley College
• Glasgow Caledonian University
• Glasgow Clyde College
• Glasgow Kelvin College
• Glasgow School of Art
• Heriot Watt University
• New College Lanarkshire
• North East Scotland College
• Queen Margaret University
• Robert Gordon University
• South Lanarkshire College
• Strathclyde University
• University of Aberdeen
• University of Abertay
• University of Dundee
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Glasgow
• University of St Andrews
• University of Stirling
• University of the Highland & Islands (UHI)
• University of the West of Scotland (UWS)
• West College Scotland

The list is correct as at 18 December 2025 and reflects SAAS records at that time.

2. For each validated institution, please provide:

• Full institution name
• Date when validation was granted
• Whether validation is currently active or suspended

All HEIs listed at 1 have been validated and remain validated to carry out DSA needs assessments to date.

We do not hold the data of when the validation was granted as validation was granted prior to 2016 under legacy arrangements.

Accordingly, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 that SAAS does not hold the information you have requested.

• Number of DSA assessments conducted in each of the last three academic years (2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 to date)

SAAS does not carry out DSA needs assessments and is not involved in the operational delivery of assessments by validated institutions or Access Centres. As a result, SAAS does not hold records of the number of needs assessments conducted by individual institutions or Access Centres, nor does it hold this information broken down by academic year.

While SAAS may receive invoices or assessment reports for the purpose of determining DSA entitlement, these records are not held in a format that records or reports the total number of assessments undertaken by each provider.

Accordingly, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 that SAAS does not hold the information you have requested.

3. Please provide the current validation criteria and process that institutions must meet to become approved DSA assessment providers.

No current validation criteria or active validation process exists.Historic validation criteria, applied prior to 2016, are no longer operational and are not relied upon for decision-making. SAAS does not hold a current validation framework.

Accordingly, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 that SAAS does not hold the information you have requested.

4. Please confirm the current list of institutions that are NOT validated to conduct assessments (your published guidance currently lists Edinburgh Napier University, The Open University, and The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

Non-validated Scottish institutions are as follows:

• Borders College
• Edinburgh Napier University
• Open University
• Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
• Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
• West Lothian College

*Students of these institutions are referred to one of the Access Centres, normally depending on proximity to the student’s home address.

PART B: Access Centres

5. Please provide:

• Contact details (institutional email/phone, not personal) for each of the three designated Access Centres (University of Dundee, Edinburgh College, New College Lanarkshire)

SAAS does not hold a centrally maintained record of Access Centre contact details. This information is publicly available on the institutions’ websites as detailed below.

• University of Dundee - Access Centre | University of Dundee, UK
• Edinburgh College - Get in touch | Edinburgh College
• New College Lanarkshire - Contact us - New College Lanarkshire | New College Lanarkshire

Accordingly, this is a formal notice under section 25(1) of FOISA that the information is otherwise accessible.

• Number of referrals made to each Access Centre in each of the last three academic years
• Average waiting times for appointments at each Access Centre
• Geographic catchment areas or referral criteria for each Access Centre

As detailed at 2, SAAS does not hold this information as they are not involved in the referrals which are conducted by the institutions.

Therefore, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Student Awards Agency Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

PART C: Independent Assessors

6. Please confirm whether SAAS currently approves or contracts with any independent or freelance DSA needs assessors who operate outside of validated institutions and Access Centres.

SAAS has not approved or procured contracts with independent or freelance DSA needs assessors who operate outside of validated institutions and Access Centres.

7. If such assessors exist:

• How many are currently approved/contracted?
• What are their business/trading names (not personal names)?
• What geographic areas do they serve?
• How many assessments have they collectively conducted in the last academic year?

Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) does not hold the data as explained at 6.

Therefore, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Student Awards Agency Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

8. If no independent assessors currently operate, please confirm when this arrangement ceased and provide any documentation explaining the policy decision.

As SAAS has never operated a system for approving or contracting independent or freelance DSA assessors, there was no arrangement in place that could have ceased. Consequently, no policy decision or documentation exists relating to the discontinuation of such an arrangement.

Therefore, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Student Awards Agency Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

PART D: Assessment Fees and Quality Assurance

9. Please provide the current fee structure paid by SAAS for needs assessments, including:

• Standard assessment fee paid to institutions
• Fee for home visits (if different)
• Travel expenses rates for assessors
• Any variation in fees between providers

SAAS advises HEIs can use a pro forma template, see attached form.

There is no current set fee structure as these are dealt with on a case by case basis. SAAS covers the costs for the time taken for the needs assessment to be conducted, time taken for the report to be written and admin charges, if any, completed by the assessors.

Per the SAAS Disability Advisors Guidance, SAAS will pay the cost of a student’s needs assessment. We will not take this amount from their DSA allowance. SAAS will cover the cost of a needs assessment providing:

• the student has a recognised disability
• the student meets our eligibility criteria
• the assessment is carried out by a validated institution or an individual who is undergoing the training and the assessment is being submitted as part of their training

SAAS cannot accept or pay for a needs assessment from the following:

• qualified individuals who are working at an institution that is not validated by the Scottish Government
• assessments carried out by professional organisations such as the RNIB, though assessors may consult these organisations when undertaking an assessment
• assessments carried out by other government organisations such as Schools, Local authorities or Social Work Departments
• assistive technology or Non-Medical Person Health (NMPH) suppliers - this would be a conflict of interest and suppliers should not be involved in this part of the needs assessment process

SAAS will not pay a needs assessment fee for short annual reviews of student support carried out for continuing DSA students.

Payments are made by SAAS in arrears and on receipt of an invoice. The fee is paid directly to the institution who carried out the assessment. When submitting an invoice for a needs assessment the fee should clearly show:

• the costs per hour
• the number of hours the assessment has taken
• a breakdown of the work involved
• If a home assessment is required as a result of the severity of a student’s disability, SAAS will pay for the associated travel costs of the assessor. We will also cover the cost of an additional assessor to travel with them.

SAAS will not meet the cost of a needs assessment in the following circumstances:

• where the student does not meet our eligibility criteria (unless SAAS has referred the student to an Access Centre or institution)
• where no equipment or support is recommended (unless SAAS has referred the student to an Access Centre or institution)
• where we decide not to award DSA (unless SAAS has specifically referred the student to an Access Centre or institution)

10. Please provide any quality assurance frameworks, guidelines, or training requirements that assessors must meet to conduct SAAS-approved DSA needs assessments.

SAAS does not prescribe specific training requirements for staff who carry out DSA needs assessments. What matters is that assessors have relevant training and experience to make informed decisions and recommendations about student support (for example, study aids and strategies) and that they have regular opportunities to update their knowledge and skills.

In e-mail correspondence to external stakeholders, We have sometimes advised HEIs that as a matter of best practice, knowledge on the following topics may be of benefit to assessors.

• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• Unconscious bias
• Inclusive needs assessment practice
• Report writing incl. recommending courses of action
• Disability frameworks in education
• Assistive technologies and non-technological or ergonomic solutions

These skills and knowledge can be developed through formal training, on-the-job experience, and/or formal qualifications.

It is generally expected that assessors are employed by a designated institution or access centre and are therefore subject to its quality assurance procedures, including training requirements, which may vary between institutions.

The 2025/26 Disability Advisors Guide also states the following:

The role of the assessor is to:

• consider the nature of the student’s disability
• consider the learning environment of the student
• consider the impact of the student’s disability on their ability to undertake their course
• analyse the student’s previous educational experience and the effectiveness of any strategies
• identify appropriate solutions to enable barriers to be overcome
• explain to the student that support may also be available from the institution and to
• encourage the student to discuss their additional needs with the Disability Advisor at the institution

PART E: Historical Context

11. SAAS guidance documents reference that "a list of all of the colleges, universities and Access Centres in Scotland that are validated to carry out needs assessments for the purposes of DSA is available on our website at www.saas.gov.uk". Please either:

• Provide the direct URL to this list, or
• Provide the list as a document if it is no longer publicly accessible

The list is no longer publicly accessible, however, the list of all of the colleges, universities and access centres can be found at 1.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202500498370 - Information released - Annex

File type

PDF

File size

330.1 kB