News

Help for Poorer Students 16 - 18 – 06/04/11

The Government is to spend £180m to help children from poorer families stay in education until the age of 18, ministers announced this week. The targeted help is intended to support the most disadvantaged students and enable them to stay on in education, boosting their chances of going to university.

The fund will help students affected by the decision to abolish the £560m Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which was worth up to £30 a week for 16 to 18-year-olds in education, depending on their family's income.

The new scheme is more generous than the £75m earmarked for the replacement of EMAs in last autumn's spending review. The majority of the money will be awarded by schools and colleges, at their discretion, to students from less privileged backgrounds. Some will be allocated for automatic payments to students with special needs.