The Coalition Government’s decision to end the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) will have a devastating impact on ethnic minority students.
Evaluation of the national EMA rollout found that retention rates of learners on EMA were highest for ethnic minority groups with the lowest overall retention rates, including Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean young people, indicating that EMA has been particularly important in helping to improve further education retention rates for these groups.
Figures for 2008 show that 43% of all 17-18 year old full time students received EMA but 64% of Black Caribbean, 67% of Black African, 77% of Pakistani and 88% of Bangladeshi students were in receipt of EMA.
On the 9th December, a male ethnic minority student protester made the following comment to BBC News at Ten:
‘We are from the slums of London. EMA keeps us in college. What do they want us to do - sell drugs?’
In the Comprehensive Spending Review the Coalition Government announced its intention to scrap EMA and save £0.5 billion. The Government claims it wants to focus on the most disadvantaged children in the context of raising participation to 18 years in 2015. The Government will replace EMA with an enhanced discretionary learner support fund, to be managed by schools and colleges, with a reported annual budget of £78 million. This is less than 15% of the EMA budget and means that perhaps as few as one in seven of those students who currently receive EMA will be able to receive similar support in future.
Jeremy Crook OBE, Director of Black Training and Enterprise Group, says: ‘The loss of EMA will hit ethnic minority communities very heavily. Up to 88% of students from some ethnic minority groups rely on EMA to help them study at college and get to university. The evidence shows that EMA has made a real difference for ethnic minority young people, the difference between staying on in education or not. Scrapping EMA will have a bigger impact on ethnic minority communities and damage the prospects of Black and Asian young people who are working hard to achieve a better future.’
End.
Notes
- The Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG) is a national charity working to improve opportunities and outcomes for black and ethnic minority communities in Britain. BTEG delivers the only government funded national programme - the REACH Community Engagement Programme. REACH is a national initiative funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government. It is a unique project that brings together successful Black male role models and Black boys and young Black men. Over 10,000 Black boys and young Black men have attended REACH events since 2009. REACH aims to inspire young Black males and help to raise aspirations. The role models want to see many more young Black males realising their full potential in learning, employment and self-employment. BTEG Charity number: 1056043
- EMA is an income assessed weekly allowance of £10, £20 or £30 paid direct to young people aged 16-19 who are participating in learning. It is designed to encourage young people from lower income households to remain in post compulsory learning.
- Nearly half of learners in education qualify for EMA on income grounds with 80% of those in receipt receiving the maximum weekly payment of £30. In 2008/9 over 590,000 young people benefited from EMA payments.
- Evaluation of the EMA roll out was carried out by the Research & Consultancy Service for the Learning and Skills Council in 2007, available from http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/National/nat-emaevaluationreportnov07-jan2008.pdf
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Figures for EMA take up are from the Youth Cohort Study and Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, 2008, available from http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SBU/b000850/index.shtml
The percentage of full time students aged 17/18 receiving Educational Maintenance Allowance was 43%. By ethnic group:
- White = 39%
- Mixed = 53%
- Indian = 45%
- Pakistani = 77%
- Bangladeshi = 88%
- Other Asian = 57%
- Black African = 67%
- Black African = 64%
- Other = 52%
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The figure of £78 million is reported by Children and Young People Now, http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/ByDiscipline/Education/1042273/Replacement-education-maintenance-allowance-radically-reduced-budget/
And on the What do They Know? Freedom of Information requests website http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/expectations_of_the_replacement
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Jeremy Crook, Executive Director of BTEG is a member of the Department for Communities and Local Government Voluntary and Community Sector Partnership Board, the Department for Education’s Third Sector Group and DWP’s Ethnic Minority Advisory Group, which advises Ministers.
Contact: Jeremy Crook, Director, Black Training and Enterprise Group
Lancaster House, 31-33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH
Tel: 020 7843 6110 Mobile: 07766114877
