The Guardian has learned that more than 12,000 disabled students have also been left without vital funding for specialist equipment and to pay fees for personal helpers. Campaigners are now claiming progress is so slow that it would take 75 weeks to clear the backlog.

This is me (and 11,999 others, obviously). I have yet to receive funding assisistive devices and software which I need. I applied for this funding in April.

I was also told I was not eligible for a student loan due to having previously been to university. I’d dropped out for medical reasons. As soo as I realised this, I phoned the helpline and afterseveral hours on hold, was told they would sort it out “within a few days”. It took three months to get them to agree that I had “compelling peronal reasons” for dropping out and the whole process didn’t help my still-fragile physical and mental health. Jerks.

Oh, and they tried to fine my bf over a thousand pounds for an administrative error that was their fault and not his.