Bursary fund will pay poorest students to stay on

28 Mar 11
The poorest youngsters will continue to receive financial help to support them through their studies, the education secretary confirmed this afternoon
By Vivienne Russell

28 March 2011

The poorest youngsters will continue to receive financial help to support them through their studies, the education secretary confirmed this afternoon.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Michael Gove said a £180m bursary fund would be targeted on young students most in need of help, including care leavers and those on Income Support. It would pay for around 12,000 16–19 year-olds to receive guaranteed bursaries of £1,200 a year. Gove stressed that this was more than they would have been given under the Educational Maintenance Allowance, which has been one of the coalition’s more controversial cuts.

The remainder of the funds – some £165m – would be given to school and colleges to distribute to any young person they believed needed monetary support. The colleges would have the freedom to decide the scale of the support required and whether payments should be weekly, monthly or annually.

Gove said the bursary fund would be ‘enough to ensure that every child eligible for free school meals who chooses to stay on could be paid £800 per year – more that many receive under the current EMA arrangements’.

The announcement was welcomed by secondary school heads and college principals. Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was ‘relieved’ ministers had listened to concerns about the effect the abolition of EMA would have on social mobility.

‘While the new fund is only a third of the money available under the EMA, it will still go a fair way toward helping the most disadvantaged students,’ he said.

‘It is essential that details of the new arrangements are communicated to students and parents quickly and effectively so they can start making decisions for next autumn. There is still uncertainty about how the funding will be allocated and this needs a quick resolution. The main criteria must be that it is distributed in a way that is in the best interests of young people.’

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: ‘Michael Gove’s announcement cannot disguise the fact that the government is slashing funding for EMA by two-thirds. A much smaller number of young people will get help from this vital allowance.’

Gove also used his statement to set out details of transitional arrangements for those who are part-way through their studies and already receiving EMA.

All students who successfully applied for EMA in 2009/10 will continue to receive payments at the same level until the end of the 2011/12 academic year. Those in their first year of post-16 study and receiving the maximum EMA payment of £30 a week will be eligible for £20 a week until the end of the 2011/12 academic year.

EMA is currently paid at three levels – £10, £20 and £30 a week – according to household income up to £30,810.

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