Replacement for education maintenance allowance has radically reduced budget

The so-called enhanced discretionary learner support fund was set up by the last government to help young people facing financial hardship with the costs of course-related equipment, emergencies and travel.

This financial year, the fund has a budget of £26m, but this amount will be tripled by 2014 in order for it to fully replace EMA.

Responding to a parliamentary question on the subject, schools minister Nick Gibb claimed the fund would "enable closer targeting of resource to individual students in need."

But Dan Taubman, senior national education official at University and College Union, said: "This means a lot of young people are going to get no funding support for studying."

EMA offers financial incentives of £10, £20 or £30 to 16- to 19-year-olds who want to stay in education or training. It aims to encourage young people from lower income households to remain in education.

Malcolm Trobe, policy director at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "We can understand the government is trying to target support, but we don't know how they are going to ensure the young people who need it are treated in an equal way."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "Already 96 per cent of 16-year-olds and 94 per cent of 17-year-olds participate in education, employment or training. We are committed to going further still, to full participation for all young people up to the age of 18 by 2015.

"EMA is a hugely expensive programme, costing over £560m a year with costs of administration amounting to £36m. Pilot evidence and more recent research from the National Foundation for Educational Research found that almost 90 per cent of young people receiving the EMA believed that they would still have participated in the courses they were doing if they had not received it."