The Education Maintenance Allowance is no more

By Lisa Nandy MP and Teresa Pearce MP

Update: At tonight’s EMA event, Andy Burnham announced that there will be a parliamentary vote on the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance. There was not previously going to be a vote as it came under departmental spending. But the Labour Party are using back-bench business day next Wednesday (January 19th) to force a motion through the Commons which will require a vote.

James Mills from the SaveEMA campaign, said:

“We are grateful to Andy Burnham and the Labour Party for listening to our calls on this matter, making sure that young people’s voices are heard on this matter in parliament and the same attention given to tuition fees is shown also to the vital issue of EMA”.

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As of this month, the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is no more. Students who did not apply for EMA before the end of last year, will not receive it. As we write this, there is no system in place to support students in further education in the next academic year. Young people who are studying for their GCSEs or who are halfway through their courses are in limbo – they do not know what they can expect come September.

We have campaigned together to try and save EMA because whether you are from a northern pit town or a London housing estate, EMA is a lifeline that helps young people stay on in education. Time and time again young people tell us that they use their EMA to travel to college, to pay for course equipment and to eat lunch when they are at college, school or sixth form. The young people we speak to do not consider themselves or their EMA payments to be ‘deadweight’ as the government suggests.

This evening in parliament we will be attending an event organised by Save EMA, the education trades unions and the NUS. We will hear from a college principal from Newham who knows that scrapping EMA will hurt his students and their community. We will hear from a young person who is doing A-Levels and relies on EMA and other young people who are reeling from the announcement. The coalition of people who are concerned about the scrapping of EMA is wide and deep. Staff, students, colleges and their principals all disagree with the rash and rushed decision to get rid of the allowance.

The decision to axe EMA has been rushed through within months of the government taking office. There has been no vote and no real chance to debate this on the floor of the house. There is no alternative in place, just a decision that funding will be around an eighth of what it has been.

In the absence of a full debate in the house, there have been a number of well attended adjournment and Westminster Hall debates called by backbench MPs. Before Christmas, MPs of all parties urged the minister to think again. Some MPs are concerned about travel costs for their constituents (which do not seem to be covered in the mooted EMA replacement), others about those who will lose funding halfway through their courses, and some that young people in their constituency will simply not be able to stay on in education because their family does not have enough spare cash to support them.

It is unacceptable that access to education should depend on whether your family has enough money in the bank. Young people on EMA are not asking for a lot, just a little help each week to better themselves through education.

We hope everyone interested in the future of EMA and student support comes along tonight to listen to what those who are most affected have to say.

Young people deserve better than a hasty decision based on one report to a government department. We urge the government to pause, look at the evidence and think again on EMA. Investing in young people now will only benefit society and the economy in the long run.