Bridget Phillipson announces return of maintenance grants for students

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has unveiled plans to reintroduce means-tested maintenance grants, pledging targeted support for students from the lowest-income households by the end of this Parliament.

Speaking at Labour’s annual conference, Phillipson said the new grants will ensure “time at college or university should be spent learning or training, not working every hour God sends”.

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The support will be available to students studying Level 4–6 qualifications in priority areas linked to the government’s industrial strategy, including both university degrees and technical courses.

Phillipson confirmed that the policy will be fully funded by a new International Student Levy, directing income from overseas students into opportunities for working-class young people.

“The Tories treated our universities as a political battleground, not a public good,” she told delegates. “Labour is putting them back in the service of working-class young people.”

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The announcement follows Labour’s rollout of free breakfast clubs in primary schools and forms part of Phillipson’s wider agenda to tackle child poverty.

As chair of the government’s Child Poverty Taskforce, she vowed to guarantee that poverty rates among children would be lower at the end of this Parliament than at the start.

“For too long, poverty has cascaded down the generations: a stain that scars and shames our country. It’s not inevitable: and tackling it is a choice.’’ Phillipson said. ‘‘Labour chooses to drive it down, to end it.’’

Further details on the grants and levy are expected in the Budget.

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