5. Disabled students’ allowance
Both full-time and part-time postgraduate students studying ‘recognised’ taught and research courses can apply for a disabled students’ allowance.
A ’recognised course’ is one which normally requires a first degree to gain entry, is at least one academic year long, is provided by a publicly funded institution and is not a course of initial teacher training. Your course must be eligible for an award from a research council or be equivalent to a course that is eligible for an award. However, if the course you are undertaking allows you to apply for its own equivalent allowance, you must apply for this.
Part-time courses must last for longer than one year. If you started the course in 2012/13 or later, it must be possible to complete it in no more than four times the time of an equivalent full-time course. If you started your course before 2012/13, it must be possible to complete it in no more than twice the time of an equivalent full-time course.
There is no age limit for a disabled students’ allowance, but the same personal eligibility and residency conditions as for undergraduates apply (see
here).
There is one single allowance available for postgraduate students. In 2021/22 this is £25,000 for students from England and Wales and £10,469 (2020/21 rate) for students from Northern Ireland. This is intended to cover all support, including specialist equipment, non-medical personal helpers and additional travel costs, all subject to a needs assessment.
1Reg 158 E(SS) Regs; reg 117 E(SS)(W) Regs; reg 146 E(SS)NI Regs Contact Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales or Student Finance NI for more details.
Note: students may be expected to pay the first £200 towards any IT equipment, although some institutions have hardship funds or bursaries to help with this cost. Some non-medical help and other support may be provided by the institution. Speak to an adviser in your institution for more information.
Students funded through one of the main studentship programmes (see
here) are eligible for more generous disabled students’ allowance funding through the research council. Contact the disability support office at your institution about an application.