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Case ref:201104415
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Date:August 2012
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Body:Student Awards Agency for Scotland
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Sector:Scottish Government and Devolved Administration
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Outcome:Some upheld, recommendations
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Subject:policy/administration
Summary
Ms C complained that the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) unreasonably refused her funding for a course, despite advising her course tutors that funding would be provided. She also complained about the delay in processing her application.
We found that SAAS did not provide information on their website or their 'Guide to Post Graduate Student Support' about restrictions on providing funding for students who had previously received support for courses from EU funding. However, they explained that these information sources were for guidance purposes only, and that only when an application was submitted could all criteria be considered. As this information was for guidance only, and as SAAS demonstrated that Ms C did not qualify for support, we did not uphold these aspects of her complaint. However, we did uphold her complaint that they failed to assess her application within their advertised timescales.
Recommendations
We recommended that SAAS:
- ensure that they comply with their advertised timescales when assessing applications and write to Ms C to apologise for failing to meet their timescales in this case.