NEW: The Education Maintenance Allowance, a weekly cash transfer to disadvantaged students aged 16-19, did not improve their long-run outcomes. The EMA only provided around 40p of benefits to students for every £1 spent. THREAD on our new @nuffieldfoundation.org-funded report: [1/10] - ThreadSky

theifs.bsky.social • 3 days ago

NEW: The Education Maintenance Allowance, a weekly cash transfer to disadvantaged students aged 16-19, did not improve their long-run outcomes.

The EMA only provided around 40p of benefits to students for every £1 spent.

THREAD on our new @nuffieldfoundation.org-funded report:

[1/10]

Comments

isabellefk.bsky.social•3 days ago

Really interesting. Thanks for sharing. If I’ve understood this right, the £30 per week kept the children in school, but school couldn’t meet needs?

theifs.bsky.social•3 days ago

The Education Maintenance Allowance gave £30 per week to 16-19 year old students from low-income families.

We find that it did increase participation in full-time education, but mostly at the expense of training schemes like apprenticeships.

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theifs.bsky.social•3 days ago

The effects on education participation for those receiving the EMA were largest for those with low performance at GCSE, as well as for students for Special Educational Needs and boys.

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theifs.bsky.social•3 days ago

In response to the EMA, students reduced their time in work significantly. Those in full-time education reduced their earnings by over 10% in response to the extra income.

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theifs.bsky.social•3 days ago

However, the EMA didn’t lead to improved performance to school for recipients. There was no increase in vocational qualifications or A Levels, and no increase in university attendance.

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theifs.bsky.social•3 days ago

The EMA even had negative effects on employment and earnings in the long run: students were less likely to be earning enough to qualify for National Insurance and more likely to receive out-of-work benefits.

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theifs.bsky.social•3 days ago

For those in employment, the EMA also led to possible negative effects: we estimate annual earnings fell by around 1% as a result of the EMA.

Cumulatively across their twenties, this meant the EMA generated a statistically significant reduction in earnings of 3.5%.

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alinhelsinki.bsky.social•3 days ago

It didn’t stop me working part time whilst studying for my A levels, so in my case it was a positive (though get it was a waste of billions on the wider scale).
Then again, as my wages were £3/hr, the £20 EMA I received was a handy top up…neither alone was sufficient for anything!

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