Onyx Support is an organisation providing specialist Non-Medical Help (NMH) support services to individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental health condition or physical disability. We provide support to all Higher Education Providers (HEPs) across the UK, demonstrating our capacity to provide nationwide support. Our team provides a range of services aimed at helping individuals to flourish in their chosen areas of study, by supporting students to overcome the barriers of education and encourage strategies to empower individuals to reach their potential and achieve their goals. Support is tailored to students depending on their current needs.

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Our team includes a range of diverse, professional support workers, working across the UK, such as:

• Social Workers

• Counsellors

• Mental Health Nurses

• Teachers

• Deaf, Multi-Sensory Impairment and Visual Impairment Specialists

• Rehabilitation Specialists

• Specific Learning Differences (SpLDs) Tutors

• Assistive Technology Trainers

• BSL Interpreters, Lip Speakers and Communication Support Workers

• Occupational Therapists

• Note Takers and Proof Readers

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Our band 1–4 team have extensive knowledge within the health, social and educational sectors and are kept up to date with CPD training and by regularly attending conferences. Additionally, we work with a range of external agencies and developers to ensure our systems remain up to date, ensuring we continue to be a progressive organisation. As our team have extensive knowledge, skills and experience of Higher Education Awareness, we are specialised within the industry providing the highest quality services which is reflected in our 5* feedback from our last student satisfaction survey and 5* feedback from our previous support worker survey.

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Quality Assurance

Onyx Support operates in line with the Department for Education (DfE) and Student Loans Company (SLC) expectations for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA)-funded NMH delivery. All NMH support is provided strictly within the scope of the student’s agreed DSA recommendations and the defined NMH role parameters, ensuring support is directly linked to enabling access to teaching, learning, and assessment.

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We maintain a robust quality assurance approach that includes:

• Work plans and goal-led delivery: Support is developed collaboratively with the student through structured work plans which are reviewed regularly to ensure relevance, progress, and value for money under DSA.

• Professional boundaries and ethical practice: Staff work to clear boundaries and always uphold dignity, respect, confidentiality, and student-led empowerment. 

• Complaints and feedback systems: We hold an accessible complaints procedure and actively use student and HEP feedback to drive service improvement. 

• Audit readiness and compliance monitoring: We comply with national NMH auditing and quality assurance arrangements and maintain transparent financial, session, and reporting records for review where required. 

• Qualified and accountable workforce: All NMH staff meet (or exceed) the mandatory qualification and professional body membership requirements relevant to their NMH roles, and we verify this through recruitment checks and ongoing CPD tracking.

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This framework ensures we continuously deliver safe, consistent, and high-impact support aligned with DfE-funded NMH standards and sector best practice. 

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University / HEP Expectations of Onyx as an NMH Provider

As an external NMH provider working across multiple UK universities, we align our delivery with HEP expectations and sector norms. This includes:

• Collaborative working: We communicate professionally with DSA assessment centres, disability services, academic departments, and wellbeing teams (with student consent) to ensure joined-up support.

• Reliability & responsiveness: We provide nationwide staffing capacity, timely appointment scheduling, and clear escalation routes for student risk or placement issues.

• Role clarity: We ensure NMH does not duplicate or replace support that is the responsibility of the university, and we signpost appropriately when needs fall outside DSA-funded NMH. 

• Quality reporting: Where required, we provide structured progress updates and outcome-focused reports that support student success and enable HEP monitoring.

• Inclusive practice: All services reflect Equality Act duties, trauma-informed approaches, and reasonable adjustment principles embedded in UK HE.