Hi Mervelee – just wanted you to know that I think you sent us the below message in error. Sorry not to have let you know earlier, but this email address isn’t checked all the time.
Anyway, it looks as if it might contain confidential info – so just to reassure you that we haven’t properly read it and we’ll delete the message.
Hope you’re keeping well.
All the best,
Karen
@SE16_Happiness
From: Mervelee Myers <ratty.nembhard1956@gmail.com>
Sent: 25 September 2021 11:08
To: SE16 Happiness Group <happiness_course@hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: More weekend wellbeing…
There is a GP Dr JOANNA PENNACK GMC 7283629 at Nexus Health Group Bermondsey & Lansdown Medical Mission 6 Decima Street London SE1 4DX Telephone 02074038209 who must be #reported to the Medical Council along with Linda Dobson of www.gov.uk/studentfinance at customer_complaints@slc.co.uk and Twitter/SLCcomms at Twitter for the #discrimination of Mervelee Ratty Nembhard under the Equality Act Protected Characteristics
Our Ref: 166096/LD
Dear Mrs Myers
Customer Reference Number: 19543081915
Thank you for your email dated 20 September 2021, which I am responding to
in line with our complaints process.
I am sorry to read the details of your complaint, and I can only imagine
the worry and distress you must feel when asked for additional medical
evidence to support your Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA) application
for the 2021/22 academic year, without being given a clear explanation as
to why.
We are not responsible for setting student finance policy or eligibility
criteria. We were set up by the Department for Education (DfE) to
administer the Student Loan Scheme within the Regulations set by
Government. The responsibility for setting Regulations rests with
Parliament and relevant Ministers and we do not have any discretion in
their application.
I have completed a full investigation on your account to establish what has
gone wrong. This is so we can learn from your feedback and improve the
service we offer all our customers.
DSA support is intended to ensure that all students can enter higher
education on a level playing field. Students with a disability or long-term
medical condition can apply for funding and be assessed to determine what
additional support would help them to study to the best of their ability.
When a student applies for DSA funding they must first provide medical
evidence confirming their disability or long-term health condition. The
evidence must confirm that this is long term and how it affects their
day-to-day life. Once we have reviewed and accepted this, we will issue
correspondence to a student confirming that they can arrange to have a
Study Needs Assessment carried out. The Needs Assessment Centre will carry
this out and then send the Needs Assessment Report to us with
recommendations for support to help the student with their disability
related needs. We will then review this and issue correspondence
confirming the support, we have agreed. Please be aware we can only agree
to provide the most cost-effective solution to meet a student’s disability
related needs and we require all recommendations to come from a Needs
Assessor.
If we have not accepted medical evidence for a particular condition, we are
unable to consider any recommendations from a Needs Assessor related to
this.
Following the review of the medical evidence submitted to support your DSA
application, we have accepted them for Anxiety and Depression, which was
also confirmed on the Disability Evidence form completed by your doctor. I
must however make you aware that Anxiety and Depression were the only
medical conditions declared on the form.
Unfortunately, we have not accepted the medical evidence for Diabetes,
Arthritis and Chronic Pain. The only evidence we have received for Diabetes
is a doctors summary, which has entries from 2015 for diabetes but they say
this is under “good control”. To be accepted for a disability, we need to
know the condition has an adverse daily effect on your ability to carry out
normal day to day activities.
I have checked all the evidence we have received and there is no mention of
Arthritis or Chronic Pain.
I understand that you requested that your doctor completes a Disability
Evidence form after we rejected all your evidence initially. We are
uncertain why your doctor only confirmed Anxiety and Depression on the form
and not your other medical conditions. As such, we contacted you by email
and letter on 15 and 18 September 2021. We confirmed that we have accepted
medical evidence for two conditions and rejected for three. We requested
further medical evidence for Diabetes, Arthritis and Chronic Pain and as we
have accepted your evidence for Anxiety and Depression, we asked you to
arrange to attend a Needs Assessment Centre.
I have located the calls you made to us on 20 September 2021 and listened
to the recordings. The first person that you spoke with transferred your
call to a DSA advisor. It was obvious that you were very upset that we had
rejected your medical evidence. The advisor clearly explained that we
would only accept evidence which confirms that the conditions have an
adverse daily effect on your ability to carry out normal day to day
activities. As you were unhappy with the process, the advisor sent you an
email and attached a leaflet on how to raise a formal complaint. I
understand however, in a further call that you made to us later that day,
that you were unable to open the attachment. The advisor that you spoke to
confirmed that you could raise a formal complaint by sending us an email.
Whilst I appreciate your frustration regarding our request for additional
medical evidence, once you have provided the information as detailed in our
email dated 15 September 2021, by digital upload, please contact me by
email at customer_complaints@slc.co.uk and I will arrange to process this
as a priority.
I am sorry that I cannot offer you the resolution you are seeking but I
trust that I have explained things clearly. Should you have any further
questions regarding your complaint, please contact me.
Yours sincerely
feeling sleepy with 
feeling motivated.
Fight4justice 