DSA Assessors

Information for External Assessors assessing Disabled Students coming to the University of Cumbria for Disabled Students Allowance

For an overview of the services we offer and approach, please see our Disability and Specific Learning Difficulty Pre-entry Information. See also University Baseline for Anticipatory Reasonable Adjustments which you may find useful. Key information is reproduced below.

The university offers support to students who are required to pay the first £200 of any computer costs. Please note that this is means tested, and uses the same systems as the student’s funding body. To access this support, the student needs to be enrolled with University and should be advised to contact the money advice team on arrival.

Information for the completion of the DSA QAG Assessment of Need Template

Information for Completion of Section A4

The university offers:

Section D2 Examination Support

The university provides in-house support for exams through the provision of extra time and the use of readers/scribes, and guidance from assessment centres on an individual student’s requirements is welcomed. Please ensure that this is clearly referenced. 

Professional / Vocational Courses

Many of our courses are accredited by Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs) and include an assessment of competencies and integral formal placements. Assessors are advised to read carefully all course information and learning outcomes when assessing students. Students are expected to be able to travel for between 60-90 minutes to a placement; if students require adjustments to these expectations, please advise them to contact us as soon as possible.

In addition, the university offers reasonable adjustments to enable and facilitate access to placements and placement learning; students will need to meet all professional competencies required by their professional bodies.

The university welcomes further generic details of support strategies that might assist with placement learning with the relevant section and section D.

Information on Non-Medical Help

The university is registered with DSA QAG to be a supplier of services to our students.

The university a multi-sited HEI with main campuses in Cumbria, Lancashire and London, in addition to our large number of collaborative partners delivering courses, open learning programmes and nationwide schools direct provision.

We offer direct support to our students through face-to-face appointments on site at the following campuses: Lancaster; Ambleside; Carlisle campuses e.g. Brampton Road and Fusehill Street. Appointments are also available through Skype, email and telephone (or any combination of these systems) for those without easy access to our campuses, during placements, or due to personal preference. Please ensure that you specify in the assessment report that support may be delivered remotely.

Support Bands

Band 4 support:

Specialist Access and Learning Facilitators:

 

We offer a full range of specialist tuition and mentoring services.

If you have any queries regarding our support services, please contact Disability Services.

 

Pricing

The current pricing for 2025-2026 for Band 4 support is £55 per hour

We can offer in-person (Carlisle, Lancaster and Ambleside students) or online sessions (for all students) covering:

 

All our Specialist Learning Advisors are: