We are delighted to announce our official partnership with the Smart Home Expo, the UK’s leading event for the smart technologies revolutionising the way we live, coming to the NEC Birmingham on the 26th & 27th of March 2019.

They say home is where the heart is, but nowadays, home is also where an industry revolution is taking place! Within the next few years, the smart home sector is set to become one of the fastest growing markets in the world. If this wasn’t enough, there’s a growing opportunity for the so called smart technologies to be applied to many other areas beyond the home.

The Smart Home Expo is completely free to attend, and the organisers have confirmed an unparalleled lineup of speakers and exhibitors, who will be coming together to provide you with the best technologies, innovations and insights that are completely revolutionising the way homes are built, and the way people live in it.

From smart lights that help with energy saving, to assistive home technology that enables ultimate independence, the show will redefine what constitutes a home.

Key features at this year’s event include:

• 150 seminars by an incredible speaker lineup
• Interactive panel debates where you can have your say among the greatest minds in the industry
• Live demos that allow you to try before you buy, and interact with the most innovative products in the industry
• 200 exhibitors, putting together the most comprehensive marketplace of smart technologies and solutions
• Innovation awards, featuring the latest technologies being judged by industry experts
• Launches of the very latest products and solutions that are changing the way people live
• Exclusive show offers and competitions available to visitors only

And much much more.

Completely FREE to attend, the Smart Home Expo really is the hub of the innovations changing the face of Assisted Living. For more information or to register for your free ticket, visit

www.smarthometechlive.co.uk.

BATA welcomes the Department for Education’s continued commitment to support disabled and neurodiverse students in higher education through the provision of Disabled Student Allowances (DSA).

However, the plans to tender the provision of assistive technology equipment and training, have led to uncertainty about the future of DSA and the wider industry that supports disabled students.

The sector body is calling on government to ensure there is thorough consultation with industry stakeholders, higher education providers and students.

Antony Ruck, Chair of BATA said:

“BATA is continuing its campaign to promote the rights of the users of assistive technology and to ensure the needs of the student are kept at the centre of any decision making.

“Any efforts by DfE to simplify, streamline and expedite the process of providing disabled students with assistive technology to enable them to study to the best of their abilities are broadly welcomed by our members.”

“The current policy of ‘student choice’ with regard to equipment supply and training should be preserved. The DfE must also consider the impact of the reduction in the number of companies supplying equipment and training that is implicit in the current proposal.

“The decision to consolidate both equipment and training means that the expertise of standalone training companies and institutions’ in-house teams may be lost to students. BATA urges the DfE to carefully analyse the consequences of this decision to ensure the best outcome for students.”

The government has been committed to supporting the small, innovative companies that have built the UK’s world leading assistive technology industry. Britain’s DSA system is the envy of many countries in the way it allows disabled students to reach their full potential in higher education at the same time as fostering the development of small, specialist suppliers.

BATA is urging DfE to continue supporting small and medium sized British businesses and reflected this support in the criteria used for award of supply contracts.

The industry body believes it would not be in students’ interests to limit their choice of technology or reduce the quality of the support they receive.

BATA will continue to work with DfE to provide expertise and support to ensure the DSA system continues to provide the best possible outcomes for students.

Efforts to establish the first phase of a DSA accreditation scheme for AT trainers involving certificating trainers in core software have received positive feedback from the Department for Education.

BATA has outlined a proposal to officials for an accreditation scheme that would involve software publishers offering free courses to the up to 300 individual AT trainers providing DSA-funded AT training.

However, it is not clear at this stage how the proposal might be affected by the decision to put the supply of equipment and training under DSA out to tender to a single supplier or small group of suppliers.

At present the DSA-QAG quality body neither requires AT trainers to have any specific qualifications other than a thorough knowledge of assistive technologies, nor has any mechanism to measure the knowledge and experience of AT trainers, resulting in variations in the quality of support provided.

BATA has proposed that a professional membership for AT trainers is made mandatory from January 2020 in order to ensure appropriate quality and consistency of training of AT trainers.

The scheme, run by BATA will offer annual certification that can be checked by DSA-QAG auditors in parallel with professional memberships for other Band Four roles such as specialist one-to-one study skills support and specialist mentoring.

BATA also proposes to offer accessible and cost-effective support to individual AT trainers and training providers on routes to accreditation, with a phased approach planned to minimise disruption in the sector.

All individuals providing AT training (whether as a sole trader or through a training provider) would complete online or in-person Level Two training on the software products deemed as core, currently 14 products in total provided by 13 publishers.

In addition to this, each accredited trainer will be supplied with a free of charge copy of the software title on completion of the accredited course.

In phase two software publishers could opt to deliver Level Three training to enable third party AT training providers to deliver accredited training on their behalf to their own trainers.

BATA proposes to charge under £100 per trainer per annum to cover the cost of the scheme. BATA membership will not be a requirement for accreditation.

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