Present: Simon Bloor, Esther Griffiths, Gill Shaw, Sally Daunt, Gerard Conroy (Access SUMMIT), Rob Hayward (Liverpool Hope), Steve Marsh (Nevett & Taylor), Jane Edwards (NEWI), Anne Ignatius, Joanne Melling (St Helens College), Jane Roscoe (Bolton MBC), Linda Walker (Blackpool and Fylde College), Alan Hurst (SKILL), Dave Stevens, Alasdair Line (CLARO), Sharon Butteriss, Siobhan Wood (iAnsyst Ltd), Dexter Johnstone, Marie Norris (Clear Links Support Lrd), Ken Lewis, (Sight & Sound Technology), Carol Moore (SRAC, Staffs University), Margaret Ellis, Bryan Coleman, Kath henderson, Nikki Schofield, Sharon Powell (DSO, The University of Manchester), Peter Hobday (ECS), Keith bremer (Educadus), Geoff Coates (UCLAN), Andy Harris (Manchester LA), Ian Webb (ATOP Ltd), Ken Grainger (University of Salford, Equality and Diversity), Chris Quinn, S Sewad (Lancaster University), Martin Murray (Action on Access), Hazel Devreux (Edge Hill University).

From 12.00 noon - Buffet lunch and Suppliers' Market Place including -

• DisabledGo - Accessibility Mapping Service - Devesh Patel - contact - Devesh.Patel@disabledgo.info
• Nevett & Taylor - Insurance for Specialist Equipment - Steve Marsh - contact stephen@nevettandtaylor.co.uk
• Educadus - NTA - Notetaker Allocation System - Keith Bremer - contact keith.bremer@educadus.co.uk
• ClaroSoft - Claroread, ClaroRuler etc. - Dave Stevens - contact mark.martin@clarosoftware.com
• Sight and Sound - various VI resources - Ken Lewis - contact ken.lewis@sightandsound.co.uk
• iAnsyst - Audio Notetaker - Sharron Butteriss - contact Sharron.Butteriss@iansyst.co.uk
• TextHelp - contact - d.thomson@texthelp.com

1.30 pm - Sharing practice / information exchange / updating

• Coloured filters and/or glasses - issues - Catherine Porter - University of Manchester Vision Centre & Sally Daunt - Study Skills Tutor
  • Catherine clarified the nature, as far as it is known, of Meares Irlen Syndrome.- a type of problem in individuals with apparently normal eyesight resulting in physical discomfort when reading. Some report that the words appear to “move”, “wobble” or “flicker” while others say that the page appears too bright or the words are too close together. . Can lead to slow reading, frustration, tiredness, headaches and mistakes, lines may appear to jump, move or distort, problems get worse when reading small print on white or shiny paper. Cause is uncertain but coloured overlays/lenses have been found to help. Sometimes referred to as Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome; Colour Sensitivity; Irlen Syndrome.
  • Catherine advocated the informal test of the effectiveness of colour through the use of coloured overlays available in a testing pack from IOO - see http://www.ioosales.co.uk/html/educational.html and if a benefit is detected by the student then a referral for a full sight test by an optometrist interested in colour vision should be sought see The Societ for Coloured Lens Prescribers -  http://www.s4clp.org/ .
  • Catherine can be contacted at catherine.porter@manchester.ac.uk.
  • Sally gave additional information about the practical steps tutors/lecturers might take to accommodate students with Meares Irlen Syndrome: use a sans serif font (e.g. Tahoma, Verdana, Arial), use a minimum of N12 size font, print on off-white paper.
  • Sally can be contacted at sally.daunt@access-summit.org.uk .
• Ken Grainger told the meeting that the University of Salford's Dyslexia Symposium is scheduled for 5-9th November 2007. More details at http://www.equality.salford.ac.uk/dyslexia_symposium/ .
• Steve Marsh from Nevett & Taylor  told the meeting that he represented Nevett and Taylor - an insurance broker which is able to source dedicated insurance policies covering specialist equipment. Contact Steve on Tel: 01663 748 622 Email: stephen@nevettandtaylor.co.uk.

2.30 pm -    SKILL News and Updates

• Of note:

  • Forthcoming conferences –   SKILL - The Challenge of Disability Equality Today. Monday 26th- Tuesday 27th November 2007 - The Belfry Hotel, Nottingham. http://www.skill.org.uk/page.aspx?c=31&p=138

  • The NW Group and the future - as far as it is known, the NW Group is the only group meeting in a forum style with a membership of disability advisers, awards officers, suppliers and other HE/disability professionals/practitioners. The group was asked to forward views about the effectiveness of this to Alan.

3.00 pm -    Submitted agenda/programme items

• Dealing with increasing numbers of students and demands upon an institutional support service - Bryan Coleman

  • The University of Manchester has re-organised the way in which its Disability Support Office deals with students. Disability Advisers are now aligned to particular departments/schools and follow-through all DSO related activities for students in those departments / schools. This has the advantage of providing a clear referral route and DSO staff benefit from intimate knowledge of procedures etc within those departments / schools. However, ther has been yet another increase in numbers without any increase in staffing and Bryan asked if anyone could make any suggestions as to how the work of the Office might be further re-organised to improve efficiency.

  • The meeting agreed that the increase in numbers was sector wide and not limited to Manchester. Anecdotally, it was noted that there was an increase in the numbers of students with complex disabilities and that this posed particular challenges for the sector as the model of provision was largely driven by a need to see high volumes of dyslexic students; which is a group increasing to grow also.

  • This would suggest that a simple revision of the Baseline Provision document will not be adequate in providing Support Services with documentary support to make a case for more staffing; that a fundamental review will be needed of the current demand and provision.

   

• VAT on support work - Simon Bloor

  • Different suppliers are dealing with VAT in different ways. Some suppliers have been able to use VAT Mitigated Terms while others have not found a way of doing this.

  • VAT exemption, as applied to equipment, is not applicable on support work in the same way and it was suggested that suppliers applying no-VAT with this justification should look carefully at it to assure themselves of the basis for this approach.

  Additional information supplied by Ian Webb

  • However, some HEIs, as "eligible bodies" will be able to use exemption as NMH supply is closely related to the supply of education which is exempt from VAT, i.e. there is no VAT charged by the supplier. Goods and services which are closely related to the supply of education for the direct use by a student are also exempt when supplied by an eligible body. VAT Notice 701/30 covers this exemption.

  • Eligible bodies include HEIs and also bodies which are precluded from distributing and do not distribute any profits they make, but instead apply any profits they make from the supply of education to the improvement of such supplies.

  • Non-medical helpers provided by organisations which are not linked to an HEI or other eligible body would be services standard rated for VAT. However, if the provider organisation is not VAT registered, there would be no VAT implications.

  • The VAT status of an individual or organisation depends on whether they make taxable sales in excess of the VAT registration threshold (currently £64,000) in any 12 month period, in which case they are legally required to register for VAT, or alternatively if their taxable sales are below this level, whether they choose to register for VAT on a voluntary basis. If an organisation or individual is not VAT registered, they will not charge VAT whilst those that are registered for VAT should do so unless they are exempt.

  • Services provided by a non-medical helper engaged directly by a student would be standard rated for VAT. However, if the individual is not VAT registered, there would be no VAT implications.

  • Local VAT offices are the authority for deciding on VAT reliefs. If a DSA item or service is subject to VAT, the VAT is paid from the allowances permitted within the Student Support Regulations.

  • As an Assessment Centre ATOP has also sought advice on the presentation of VAT on reports and had received advice from DIUS that costs inclusive of any VAT to be incurred regardless of the way it had been calculated) should be presented.

   

• Non-medical helper Allowance Admin charges - how are support suppliers dealing with this? - Simon Bloor

  • LAs have been reminded that they can ask for a break-down of costs and for an explanation as to how the administration costs have been arrived at from suppliers. In addition, the DfES stated that flat-rate percentage based administration fees were unlikely to provide a sufficiently transparent basis for the calculation of administration fees.

  • A number of suppliers of non-medical help have received letters from the NE LA Group asking for a break-down of charges and rationale behind their administration fees. Simon asked if anyone was aware if a similar request would come from NW LAs.

   

• Conversion to electronic format of manual notes - Marie Norris

  • A non-medical help supplier has found that Universities vary considerably in their approach to the output of notetakers; some require notetakers to convert into an electronic format, while others are happy with the manual output being handed direct to students.

  • There was a view that the output for the student should be appropriate to need and that a format needed (and supported in an AoN) by the student should drive the requirement.

  • The use of using digital pens (Logitech / Pegasus) etc was suggested which if successful, would cut down on much follow-up transcription / correction currently needed. However, experience with these to date has been mixed.

  • Suppliers currently vary in their payment to notetakers for the task of follow-up transcription - some paying half an hour of transcription per hour of notetaking, others an hour of transcription per hour of notetaking.

  • Access SUMMIT currently looking into use of digital pens and will share any significant findings.

4.00 pm -    Close