Cash lifeline for students who lose EMA - Camden's councillors set aside £80,000 "contingency fund" to help 16-17 year olds
Published: 27 January 2011
by JOSIE HINTON
STUDENTS set to lose out following the government’s scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) are being offered a last-minute reprieve.
Camden councillors have set aside an £80,000 “contingency fund” to help 16 and 17-year-olds due to start courses this year who would have been eligible for the payments of up to £30 through EMA.
The government’s replacement scheme – promised by ministers to be better targeted at the most needy students – will not be introduced until the beginning of the next academic year in September.
Labour councillor Sarah Hayward said the fund was being put in place to bridge the gap and will be taken from the remains of the Camden Recovery Fund, a £6million pot set aside last year to help the borough through the recession.
Cllr Hayward added: “We do not want students to be deterred from continuing in education for financial reasons.”
Camden School for Girls pupil Ella O’Regan, who currently receives the full EMA payments, said: “If you’ve been told you’re going to get help and you’ve applied for courses on that basis it is completely unfair to turn around and say, ‘sorry you’re not going to get that help’. I am completely dependent on my EMA for trips, books and travel – I can’t tell you how stuck I would be without it.”