The AoC said a significant number of colleges are concerned that financial constraints are preventing some students from pursuing their preferred courses at their institution of choice, and that there is a risk of vulnerable groups becoming disengaged from education.

Key findings from the survey include:

• over half of the colleges (52%) that responded to the survey are topping up government bursary funding with their own contributions
• a similar proportion (56%) are spending more on subsidising transport than last year
• four-fifths (79%) of colleges said that free meals for poorer students would improve participation
• half (50%) reported a drop in students aged 16-19 and a quarter (25%) reported a significant dip of between 5% and 15 %.

Thomas Spielhofer, the former research manager at the National Foundation for Educational Research, whose report the government frequently cited to call the EMA a ‘deadweight cost’, told MPs that ministers had ‘misinterpreted’ key findings.

The government said the report stated that 88% of EMA recipients did not need the weekly money they received to help with course costs and said this was proof it was a deadweight cost.

However, giving evidence to the education select committee, Mr Spielhofer said: ‘You can interpret that in different ways. You can interpret it quite negatively, and say that for 88% that was wasted money, but I don’t actually see it that way, I think it has been misinterpreted in that sense.’

When asked directly if he was happy with the concept that EMA has a deadweight cost of 88%, he said ‘no’. He also said he was unhappy that the change in government policy had been based on his research and that ministers should have paid closer attention to work by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, which showed that the EMA paid for itself.

Unions say the revelations were proof that the government’s cuts are ideologically driven and pointed to a survey it carried out in January which showed that 70% of EMA recipients would consider dropping out of college if the allowance was axed.

In its latest Going for Growth report, the OECD said that improving the educational achievement of young people, by reintroducing the EMA, could boost youth employment in Britain, propel economic growth and help it cut a record budget deficit.

The revelations were deeply embarrassing for the government who plan to cut allowances for poorer students by £390m, and come after David Cameron praised the OECD for being ‘one of the world’s major international economic organisations’.

The OECD report (pdf)

See SaveEMA.co.uk for more on this development.

There was disappointment that the amount was being lowered from £30 to £20 and that EMA recipients currently receiving £20 and £10 would miss out entirely, although the campaign welcomed the news that students currently receiving the top band of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) would continue to receive some financial support.

Last year over 600,000 students received the EMA, with 80% (those whose household income is less than £20,800) receiving the full £30 weekly allowance.

From September, only 12,000 new students who are either disabled, in care or from families on income support will be guaranteed funding. Others will be forced to will apply to a discretionary fund managed by individual colleges.

A UCU survey of EMA recipients, published in January, revealed that 70% would drop out of college if the financial aid was removed, and the union said that despite promises of ‘targeted support’ many could still be faced with that choice. More information on that story can be found here.

The protests on 19 January featured heavily in the national press. Below is just a selection.

• Guardian
• Daily Mail
• Guardian blog
• Telegraph
• Daily Mirror
• New Statesman
• Left Foot Forward
• Press Association
• AFP news agency
• Morning Star

National broadcast media

Coverage of the protests featured on the BBC one, six and ten news and BBC Newsnight. They were also long pieces on ITV, Channel Four, and Five news, as well as regular reports on the BBC news channel and SKY news. Campaign spokespeople and students appeared on Radio 4 and BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Radio one did a special report with students at Norwich College.

• ITN
• Sky News
• BBC

Regional media

The EMA protests were covered extensively by local radio and television as well as by many regional press.

• BBC Newcastle
• BBC Manchester
• Middlesbrough Gazette
• Leicester Mercury
• Stafford Gazette
• York Press
• Cambridge News
• Sheffield Star
• Plymouth Herald
• Peterborough Evening Telegraph

The students, from Brook House Sixth Form College in Hackney and William Morris College in Hammersmith, where over 65% of pupils receive the EMA, are also holding lessons in the House of Commons between 10am and 11am where they will meet with MPs **.

In addition, from 1pm to 4pm there will be a lobby in the House of Commons which will be attended by staff and students from around the country.

The news comes ahead of an opposition day debate in Parliament on Wednesday (19 January), in which MPs will vote on a motion that calls on the government to rethink its plans to scrap the vital financial support.

A survey published today by the University and College Union (UCU) revealed that seven in ten students (70%) who receive the EMA would drop out of college if it is withdrawn, and that nearly two-thirds (63%) don’t get any help from their families to meet study costs - http://www.ucu.org.uk/5208

*The students will be handing out the biscuits outside Westminster Underground Station

**The students will be holding lessons in committee room 6 and 8 of the House of Commons

#The lobby will be held in committee room 11 in the House of Commons

For a briefing from the FE unions, NUS and Save EMA, please click here: About Education Maintenance Allowance MP Brief

Our briefing references a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies which can be found here: http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/5370

Briefing for MPs: http://emacampaign.org.uk/files/2011/01/Lobby-of-Parliament-Briefing-on-EMA.pdf

Lobbying Guide: http://emacampaign.org.uk/files/2011/01/How-to-lobby-your-MP.pdf