Students will continue to benefit from education grants, says Skates

* Minister for Further and Higher Education, Vikki Howells, discusses the grants with students.

Thousands of students in Denbighshire and Wrexham will continue to benefit from weekly grants from the Welsh Labour Government, says a local Member of the Senedd.

More post-16 learners in colleges and sixth forms will now receive the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) following a Welsh Government decision to uplift the household income thresholds – resulting in more families being able to apply.

EMA is a weekly grant of £40 designed to support 16 to 18-year-olds with further education costs.

Ken Skates, whose Clwyd South constituency includes parts of Wrexham and Denbighshire, said: “EMA was scrapped in England by the Tories and Lib Dems in 2011, and is retained at a lower rate of £30 in Scotland and Northern Ireland – meaning Wales’ system is the most generous in the UK.

“Currently around 16,000 Welsh learners receive EMA, which can be a lifeline for students, but starting from the new academic year in September an estimated 3,500 more will benefit.”

The threshold for households with one dependent child is currently £20,817, which will increase to £23,400 – meaning students in a household with an income of £23,400 or less will be eligible. The threshold for households with two or more dependents will also rise to £25,974 from £23,077

Last year, more than 1,000 students in Wrexham and Denbighshire received EMA, and around 3,500 across the two counties have benefited from the scheme in the past three years.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Vikki Howells, said: “Wales already delivers the most generous Education Maintenance Allowance in the UK, helping post-16 learners to continue studying, and this change means we will now be supporting thousands more learners.

“We are very proud of our record in maintaining and increasing the Education Maintenance Allowance. We are clear that our Draft Budget is a budget for a brighter future and the uplift to EMA eligibility is one of the ways we are delivering this. The announcement means thousands more learners will now benefit from further financial support to continue their journey.”