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The purpose of The Assessment

• To enable students to identify the appropriate support needed as a consequence of a disability / specific learning difficulty including;
•     reasonable adjustments to be made available by the college / university;
•     equipment / resources / support to be funded by The DSA;
• To ensure students know how to obtain the provision identified.

General principles

• The Access SUMMIT Assessment Service operates strictly according to the following:
  • Guidance from The DfES;
  • This states that a DSA Award can be made:
    • in respect of expenditure not covered elsewhere in the Regulations, and must arise from undertaking the course as well as from the disability;
    • but may not be made for disability-related expenditure which the student would incur irrespective of whether or not s/he was a student; and
    • cannot be made for expenditure relating to services which can reasonably be expected to be provided by the student’s college/university;
    • and must be "reasonable and appropriate" to individual needs
    • and must be solely for the use of the student. 
• The recommendations made will be appropriate to and with reference to the disability / specific learning difficulty for which evidence is available;
• There will be appropriate and personalised justification - there will be no general/glib justifications along the lines of "the resources recommended will enable the student to gain maximum benefit from the chosen course of study";
• Overlapping recommendations will be avoided - where they are necessary clear justification will be given;
• All recommendations will be costed; where at all possible no recommendations will be made which are "to be confirmed".
• Efforts will be made to source information about a student's course and the support available from the department and support service at the student's institution in the Assessment Report;
• There are times when this information is not available, in which case there will be reference(s) to the sources of information used;
• Where a student's needs are in excess of the provision available from The DSA, this will be explicit, and additionally an assessor will make contact with the student's HEI to highlight and if possible negotiate a way of resolving any potential shortfall.

The Assessment Appointment:

Institutional Provision - Reasonable Adjustments

• Students must have the opportunity to identify and discuss appropriate reasonable adjustments to be made by The HEI;

Specialist Equipment Allowance

• Students must have the opportunity to discuss, identify and evaluate appropriate assistive technology resources;
• Every recommendation will be backed up with a clear explanation / justification as to why it is necessary;
• There will be no general descriptions of a resource's functions - justifications should be given as to how a particular resource will address an individual student's need/difficulty;
• Where more expensive solutions are given - there will be clear reasons why these have been made including reasons why cheaper solutions will not be adequate;
• Where possible an SLA Approved, one-stop-shop supplier will be used.

Non Medical Helper Allowance

• Students must have the opportunity to discuss and identify appropriate personal support provision;
• The support recommended will be directly related to the additional needs the student has in relation to accessing the course curriculum;
• Recommendations will, where possible, take into account changes in course structure and delivery, and should make refer to this;
• No recommendations will be made which replace or overlap with a University's responsibility e.g. academic tuition or counselling;
• Recommendations for training will relate to assistive technology only - not general IT training needs.

General Allowance

• Top ups from The General Allowance to either of other two allowances where there is a high level of need may be made, but will be justified.
• Recommendations exceeding £150 for additional photocopying and consumables need additional justifications;

Assessment Centre staff members are those working within or through an Assessment Centre registered with the Quality Assurance Group.

Assessors are those who hold, or are working towards, current Approved status through a QAG registered Centre.

The paramount concern of Assessment Centre staff and Assessors is the quality of response to their clients.  The Centre therefore, requires its members of staff and all associated assessors to be competent and to maintain the highest professional and personal standards in the performance of their duties.  All should strive to maintain objectivity and impartiality in all their judgements and must be personally accountable for their conduct.

1          PERSONAL CONDUCT - Centre staff and assessors should:

• respect the legal, social and moral norms of the society and the communities in which they work;

• refrain from activities which might bring themselves or the Centre into disrepute.

2          PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE - Centre staff and assessors should:

• have appropriate experience and qualifications;

• maintain and continually update relevant knowledge and skills, reflecting technical, educational and legislative changes;

• operate only within the parameters of their own competence; onward referrals of clients should be made if appropriate.

3          PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT - Centre staff and assessors have the following duties:

• to refrain from discrimination on the basis of disability, race, religion, gender or any other consideration;

• to undertake assessment only on the basis of relevant client information and in accordance with Assessment:  Standards and Procedures and other relevant framework documentation;

• to avoid activities which may give rise to a conflict of interest or lack of impartiality, and to make explicit to all concerned any necessary and relevant conflicts of interest;

• to disregard prospects of advancement or personal gain when making professional decisions;

• to decline gifts or hospitality from clients which could be construed as inducements to gain preferential treatment;

• to refrain from guaranteeing the results of assessment and from making false or exaggerated claims when advertising;

• to demonstrate through their recommendations an awareness of their responsibilities in the distribution of public funds.

4          RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS CLIENTS - Centre staff and freelance assessors have the following duties:

• to respect the needs and opinions of the clients;

• not to enter into inappropriate personal relationships with clients;

• to inform clients of the nature of the proposed study aids and study strategies;

• to gain agreement from the client that their report is a true representation of the assessment undertaken; where this is not possible any areas of disagreement should be made clear;

• to gain consent for the report to be sent to the appropriate agency e.g.  funding body and institution, in accordance with current Data Protection legislation and as specified on the report;

• to retain the strictest confidentiality of information including that acquired in the course of non-assessment duties, except in the following cases:

• where there is valid consent by the client or the client's authorised representative;

• where necessarily imparted to a close support worker in the client's best interests when, due to the nature of the client's disability, it is not possible for consent to be gained;

• where there is a wider ethical or legal duty to disclose information;

• to ensure that Public Liability and Personal Indemnity Insurance is in place;

• when passing on information for statistical reporting and when considering sample reports for the purposes of licensing assessors, information should be treated as sensitive data.

5          RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS COLLEAGUES - Centre staff and freelance assessors have the following duties:

• to ensure adequate supervision of assessors and support staff, delegating to them only such duties as fall within their competence;

• to share appropriate information with and liaise with colleagues;

• to raise any concerns related to personal and work-related behaviour with the Centre Manager and with regard for the Complaints Procedure. 

6          RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS EMPLOYER - Centre staff and consultant assessors have the following duties:

• to work within an agreed job description or contractual arrangement, and in accordance with policies and procedures and the standard framework documents;

• to review and assess their progress in line with appropriate quality assurance procedures;

• to demonstrate impartiality in all undertakings on behalf of the client and The Centre at all times.

In response to the Quality Assurance Framework introduced by The Department for Education and Skills, Access SUMMIT has established standards which apply to the practice of assessments and the writing of Assessment Reports.

Various mechanisms will be applied to ensure that these standards are upheld.

Assessment Practice

1.    Location

• Wherever possible all assessments will be conducted either at Access SUMMIT;
• Alternatively, the student may prefer the assessment to take place in a more familiar location e.g. in their own college or University in which case The Access SUMMIT Assessment Service will undertake to make such arrangements;
• In exceptional circumstances, the only suitable venue will be at the student’s home in which case Access The Access SUMMIT Assessment Service will make arrangements according to the Second Person Present Policy;
• When the assessment is carried out at an alternative location to Access SUMMIT, this will be made clear in the assessment report and the reasons for the choice of venue given;
• Wherever the venue, it should be made clear what technologies if any were made available to the student to evaluate as part of the assessment.

2.    Assessor contact with student’s host institution

The assessor should demonstrate contact with the host institution (in the first instance the Disability Officer) throughout the report. It should be clear what is expected from all students on the course and how the disabled student’s needs exceed those of other students. The host institution’s input should especially be evident;

• When an assessor is making institutional recommendations;
• Where recommendations for travel expenses are being made;
• When the recommendations made exceed the DSA limits.

Also:

• The source(s) of information at the host institution should be indicated on the report;
• With the student’s written permission a copy of the report should be sent to the host institution.

If it has not been possible to make contact with the host institution, the source of any information will be noted and details of attempts made will be given.

3.    Interaction with the student leading to the recommendations

There should be a clear demonstration of the student’s thorough involvement in the entire assessment process:

• The Assessor will draw upon his/her knowledge of the assistive technology resources available (evidenced by his / her ability to meet demands of ICT Competencies for Assessors document above) to ensure the student has an opportunity to evaluate all appropriate resources and that this is evidenced in the Assessment Report;
• Evidence of various resources / strategies explored and their outcomes will be given;
• Reasons why specific resources / strategies have been recommended in preference to others will be given;
• Steps will be taken by The Assessor to ensure that the student has fully understood what is being recommended at the assessment stage;
• A clear summary of discussions regarding the student’s training needs should be linked to any recommendations;
• The assessor should ask students about any existing technology available and include details in the Assessment Report. If this technology is not able to support the student's current needs then the reasons why should be made clear in the Assessment Report.

4.    Areas of Recommendations

4a    General points and principles

• The assessor should be fully cognisant with the scope of DSA, particularly the DfES Guidance relating to DSA support, and use this document to inform upon recommendations;
• Recommendations should only be made in relation to the disability or specific learning difficulties for which supporting evidence has been submitted to and accepted by the student's Funding Body;
• The student's needs will be clearly described and consistent with the evidence available;
• Assessors should demonstrate a clear effort to stay within the DSA limits.  Where this is impossible, assessors should attempt to prioritise recommendations or stagger support over successive years to ensure the student gains the maximum support available to meet the needs identified on the course. In turn, where that also proves impossible, assessors should proceed with recommendations for the host institution to investigate, giving clear explanations as to why the maximum limits have been exceeded;
• Contact should especially be evident when the support being recommended exceeds DSA limits to ensure that the student’s host institution is fully aware of the additional reasonable adjustments that it may have to make;
• Funding bodies should look favourably upon such circumstances where an assessor has demonstrated all attempts to recommend support within the limits but has failed to do so. Where possible, LEAs might phase support over successive years, utilising the General Allowance where the circumstances are exceptional;
• Justification of equipment and strategies should be aligned to the student and focus on how they will remove barriers for that particular student on the chosen course. Where possible, generalised statements will be avoided.

4b    Specialist Equipment Allowance (SEA)

• Assessors should recommend equipment that has a clear and explicit purpose that is related to the student’s disability in enabling the student to carry out their course;
• Isolated descriptions of how an item works should be avoided. It should be clear why the functions the equipment performs will enable the student to access the curriculum;
• Overlap of recommendations (where two items of software perform the same task, for example) should be kept to an absolute minimum and where such an overlap is evident explicit justifications should be given;
• Quotations should normally be provided from suppliers who have signed up to the agreed Service Level Agreement;
• ‘One stop’ solutions should be recommended wherever possible;
• Any training recommended in relation to the above should be clearly defined and linked to items recommended. Training should be quantified – it should be clear how long it is expected the student will need for each item of assistive technology;
• Payment for ergonomic items should normally only be made on the basis of an assessor’s recommendations, and no other body;
• Course related software should only be recommended in exceptional circumstances, for example when it is not practical for the student to access the software on the the host institution's computers.
• Ongoing Assistive Technology Support should only be recommended where there is a clear need for it and where it is possible to deliver this service; it is not possible to offer this service to students outside of The Greater Manchester area in any but exceptional circumstances;
• If several alternative resources / strategies will address a single need adequately alone then the cheapest should be specified.
• For students in latter stages of their course a rental option should be considered – if there is no indication that such a quote should be presented an Assessor should the student's Funding Body to ask if such an option would be welcomed.
• The hardware recommended should be appropriate to the demands of the software applications recommended and should be sufficiently specified to last for the duration of the student's course;
• Where course specific software is recommended clear disability related reasons should be given;
• Where a an Apple MAC is recommended clear disability related reasons should be given
• Warranties for hardware should be consistent with the time remaining on-course;
• All peripherals required should be specified
• Antivirus/anti-spam software should be specified
• If there appears to be a cheaper alternative solution clear disability related reasons will be given;
• Justifications given should relate to individual need, no general descriptions of equipment should be given;
• Resources identified in Section C of the Report should be paralleled in the costings in Section D;
• Where a portable PC is recommended then a justification should be given as to why a desktop PC would not be adequate;
• Installation and set-up costs should normally be specified and if not, reasons given.

4c    Non Medical Helpers’ Allowance

• Support should clearly relate to additional support which facilitates access to the curriculum. This may include communication support interpreters, some forms of mobility support, note takers (recommendations should relate to actual tutorial time, including reasonable time to type an accurate record of the notes), dyslexia study support (where clearly defined);
• The expectation should be that the recommended support should reflect the changing needs of the course. Where the support relates to mentoring and dyslexia study skills it is expected that it is enabling and therefore gradually reduced over time. Conversely, where students may need additional support later in the course due to a change in the demands of the course this should be reflected in the report wherever possible;
• No DSA support relating to extra academic tuition or counselling support should be recommended. It should however be noted that this does not exclude, for example, additional mentoring support for students with a range of mental health difficulties, linguistic and study skills support for deaf and hard of hearing students nor study skills support for students with specific learning difficulties;
• DSA funding for placements should only be recommended for paid or unpaid placements where the student’s full-time study is longer than 10 weeks in the academic year, or less than 10 weeks where an unpaid placement is eligible under Chapter 7a;
• Any training and support in this category should be provided by others with no familial relationship to the assessor unless this is clearly and unambiguously to the advantage of the student. Any professional link should be made clear in the report and would normally only be acceptable where there is a link between the assessor and the establishment the student attends;
• Training by Access SUMMIT will only be recommended where there is a clear need for it and where it is possible to deliver this service; it is not possible to offer this service to students outside of The Greater Manchester area in any but exceptional circumstances;
• A summary of training needs will be including in the Assessment Report and forwarded to the trainer or agency/company organising the training with the student’s permission;
• Any standard fees for personal support costs should be quantified; the service offered by the helper should also be clearly defined e.g. in the case of Support Tuition the form of the support / activities to be engaged in should be specified;
• No form of diagnostic assessment should be recommended by assessors to be charged to the DSA;
• The assessment fee should be quantifiable and transparent. The invoice should clearly show the hourly rate and the number of hours spent on each part of the assessment;
• Where a strategy has been recommended from the Equipment Allowance, it should not be duplicated with another strategy to meet the same need from the NMH Allowance without clear justification.
• Costings for NMH support will be accurate, with a clear transparent calculation given and costings given for a complete academic year.

4d    General Allowance

• Standard figures for an acceptable range of additional costs such as computer consumables, additional photocopying and book allowances should be recommended on an annual basis by QAG. If an individual student is expected to require more than the recommended standard figures due to their disability the assessor should explain the reasons;
• The general allowance should only be used as a supplement to the Specialist Equipment Allowance in very exceptional student cases of very high need, where costs in the SEA have already been explored and exhausted;
• Where a strategy has been recommended from either of the other two allowances it should not be duplicated with another strategy to meet the same need from the General Allowance without clear justification.

4e    Travel

• Clear reasons should be given for a student incurring high levels of additional travel costs for study related activities and should be backed up by medical evidence by the student wherever possible;
• Recommendations for additional travel costs should be explored fully with the student, where appropriate, and clearly indicated and justified within the report.
• Travel by car will be costed at 19p per mile as recommended by DfES Guidance, the total recommended representing the difference between the cheapest form of transport reasonable and the value of miles x 19p.

5.    Supplier recommendations and quotations

• Where possible, quotations should be accurate, up-to-date and complete ("To be confirmed" should only be used in exceptional circumstances which must be explained in the report);
• Recommendations on the assessment report should be supplied with correct figures;
• Assessors should normally use suppliers who have signed the Service Level Agreement, unless there are clear reasons for them not to. In these cases reasons should be given.

6.    Report Standards

• The report will be presented using the latest Template issued by Access SUMMIT;
• The Report will be in Arial, N12, will be tidy and well presented;
• Where bullet pointing / numbering sections of The Assessment Report these will be consistent throughout the report;
• Details will be complete, correct and consistent;
• There will be no reported speech/slang;
• All comments/highlights etc which may have been present in template have been edited out;
• Where information has been forwarded from the host institution in the form of a Stage 1 Report the sections of this will be incorporated into The Assessment Report by The Assessor;
• There will be no changes made to a Stage 1 Report without reference to the student's host institution;
• For Full Assessments, the assessor will include Institutional Guidance which will be given in as much detail as possible to assist with implementation and will reflect adjustments and modifications to standard practices that the Assessor knows to be possible.

7.    Timescales

• Assessors are advised that they must lodge the report with The Centre as soon as possible - maximum time 5 working days following the assessment appointment. Should there be any outstanding issues to resolve then assessors will lodge a draft report with The Centre with a summary of issues to be resolved and actions taken to date. The Assessment Service Team will work with the assessor to resolve these issues as appropriate and will keep all parties informed.

8.   Quality Assurance of Reports

• The Centre Manager, with the assistance of The Assessment Service Co-ordinator, will offer training and information to ensure that Assessors are able to address the detail of this policy in their Assessment practice, including the writing of The Assessment Report;
• Assessors will be responsible for the day-to-day implementation of The Policy in relation to their Assessment practice, including the writing of The Assessment Report;
• To ensure Assessment practice which follows the detail of this policy is taking place, The Centre Manager, with the assistance of The Assessment Service Co-ordinator, will implement tandem assessments, a proof-reading procedure, provide opportunities for Assessors to discuss practice and recommendations and check through reports.
• Assessors will submit Assessment Reports to The Quality Assurance Team using the reports@access-summit.org.uk email address for Quality Assurance checking;
• The QA Team will consider whether the Report satisfies the QA Checklist below.

• Minor errors / mistakes will be rectified by The QA Team and the report sent to the student - the following may be considered to be minor errors / mistakes - spelling errors (so long as there is no obvious pattern), minor inconsistency (e.g. his/her), formatting difficulties (e.g. alignment, page breaks).
• Major errors / mistakes will not be rectified by The QA Team. In these cases The QA Team will note the areas for attention and send the report back to The Assessor - the following may be considered to be major errors / mistakes
  • factual information given is wrong,
  • absence of satisfactory justification for resources recommended,
  • errors in calculations,
  • esources which are recommended and not costed;
  • recommendations and costings are inconsistent with known evidence;
• Where there is a pattern across Assessors of making minor or major errors / mistakes The Centre Manager, with the assistance of The Assessment Service Co-ordinator, will take appropriate steps in the form of issuing guidance / information or by addressing the issue at an Assessor's Training Session;
• Where there is a pattern unique to an individual Assessor of making minor or major errors / mistakes The Centre Manager, with the assistance of The Assessment Service Co-ordinator, will consider what steps, perhaps in the form of a Professional Development Review and individual training, might be taken to stop the problem re-occuring;
• In the unlikely event that following such actions the same minor or major errors / mistakes are still being made The Centre Manager, with the assistance of The Assessment Service Co-ordinator, will not be able to renew The Assessor's Approval Status and The Centre will not be able to commission assessments from the individual concerned.

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