Cash on offer to keep studying

Students will get between £10 and £30 a week to stay on

More than a third of a million 16 year olds are being asked to apply for cash payments to stay in education.

The Education Maintenance Allowance, worth between £10 and £30 a week, will be available to those from low-income families in England from September.

Students could also receive bonuses of £100 if they remain on the course and make good progress.

However, those who miss lessons will forfeit their right to a grant.

The UK has one of the highest rates for leaving school at 16 in the developed world.

A separate announcement was being made about extending EMAs across Wales as well.

'Huge chunk drop out'

EMAs have been piloted across a third of England since 1999.

Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Loughborough found that:

• Among the 16 year olds eligible, the staying-on rate increased by 5.9 percentage points
• For boys, the figure was 6.9
• And, for boys among the lowest socio-economic group, it was 10 percentage points

To qualify for EMAs, young people must come from households with incomes of less than £30,000 a year.

The means-tested payments will go into students' bank accounts.

Of the 660,000 young people aged 16 this September, the government expects that 500,000 will go into full-time education.

Some 25,000 of these would not have gone into education without EMA, it argues.

As the scheme is extended to 17 and 18 year olds in subsequent years, the number of additional participants as a result of EMA is expected to rise to 70,000.

Changing attitudes

The Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, said: "The UK has one of the highest post 16 drop out rates in the western world and this government is determined to smash school drop out rates at 16 and boost the aspiration and opportunities for those young people who have never viewed staying on at school or college as something for them.

"There is no point having improving GCSE results and higher education participation rising towards 50% if there remains a huge chunk in the middle that continue to drop out and enter into a cycle of continuous low paid work or unemployment."

He added: "EMAs are not money for nothing. You only earn if you learn. The weekly payments depend on the young person being able to demonstrate that they are committed to turning up and working hard. If you stop learning, then you stop earning."

EMAs would, he said, help those who would have "been in dead-end jobs with no training or self development, at best, and unemployed at worst".

However, Shadow Education Secretary Tim Yeo said: "The government should be focusing on allowing schools and colleges to provide an engaging and relevant curriculum for their pupils, instead of bribing them to remain in education.

"Labour is trying to shoe-horn 50% of young people into higher education and is having to pay young people to meet this target."

Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, added: "Under this scheme young people are still better off going into low paid work at £3 per hour than staying in the classroom. Continuing their education simply makes little financial sense.

"Sixteen year olds from poorer backgrounds are still missing out under Labour."