21-13 Student Support Services

University is looking to establish agreements with suitable Contractor(s) who can provide Student Support Services to our students eligible for support via Disabled Students Allowance, ESFA funding, other funding bodies, or for support funded by the University of Wolverhampton. Students awarded DSA will possess a needs assessment that details what support, adjustments and equipment a student requires based on the assessor's determination of how their disability affects their individual ability to study and could place them at a disadvantage. Similarly the University may undertake an assessment of the support needs of a student not eligible for DSA and provide support funded by the University or other funding bodies the University is eligible to claim for. This is a Managed Service for use when the University does not have capacity within its Non-Medical Helper (NMH) team. The aim of this tender is to create a Framework Agreement of five (5) suitable Providers of Student Supports Services or those scoring over 75% that can be used by the University. This tender is to establish agreements with Contractor(s) to supply Assessments for students with disabilities, medical conditions or SpLD where required and NMH Support Workers that ensures we continue to deliver the quota of DSA support that the University of Wolverhampton have been awarded or to provide support to students not eligible for DSA funded support. For the purposes of the DSA funded activity awarded to the University, the University is responsible for the invoicing and quality of the support provided whether provided by a member of the University of Wolverhampton NMH team or by a support worker provided by an agency. The support workers provided by the agency will be included in the annual DSA audit as a member of the University NMH support worker team. The University is responsible for ensuring that only suitably qualified support workers who meet the requirements of the DSA framework provide DSA funded support to our students. This is a Managed Service, the successful Contractor(s) must be able to provide support across the following areas: • British Sign Language Interpreters (BSLI) • Manual Note Takers • Practical or Study Support Assistants • Exam support workers • Specialist Note Taker (for Deaf / Hard of Hearing students) including electronic note taking and Speech To Text Reporter • Specialist Note taker for Visually Impaired (VI) students including Braille • Specialist Mentor Mental health conditions (MH) • Specialist Mentor (Autism Spectrum Conditions - AS) • Specialist one-to-one study skills support (Specific Learning Difficulties - SpLD) • Specialist one-to-one study skills support (AS)(MH) • Specialist support professional for students with sensory impairment - deaf or visually impaired students The University is also looking to establish agreements with Diagnostic Assessors to support students and/or other students where the University deems necessary for an assessment to take place.