The government has come under intense pressure to rethink its abolishment of the EMA grant after the chair of the Public Accounts Committee said the government had failed to assess the impact.
Margaret Hodge said that the Department for Education did not examine how young people from disadvantaged backgrounds would be affected and in particular drew attention to the knock-on effect on widening participation initiatives.
The comments were made following the publication of a report by the Public Accounts Committee which investigated education provision for 16-19 year olds.
Last year over 6000 students received the EMA grant, which was designed to support students from poorer backgrounds to stay on in education. Of the 6000 young people who received the grant in 2010, 80 per cent came from households with an income of less than £20,800 per annum.
Commenting on the Public Accounts Committee report, UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: “Ever since the government started cherry-picking research to drive through the end of the EMA it has been clear to us that thousands of the country’s poorest teenagers would suffer.
“The very least the government can do is look again at the necessary level of support needed to give this country’s poorest teenagers a fair crack at an education.”
Today’s report is also critical of the fact that two separate government departments are responsible for overseeing the education provision for 16-19 year olds.
“We agree with the report that 16-19 education would be far better served if it was focused in one government department,” Sally Hunt said.
Last month the government was criticised by the Education Select Committee over the axing of the EMA grant. Its chairman Graham Stuart MP said it had been “rushed and ill thought through” and that young people deserved better.
