It’s now official: The government lied when scrapping EMA

By James Mills of the Save EMA campaign

Yesterday the government’s whole argument for abolishing Education Maintenance Allowance was blown out the water. The Education Select Committee in Parliament, who are currently looking into the government’s decision to abolish EMA received evidence from Thomas Spielhofer of the National Foundation for Educational Research.

Save-Education-Maintenance-Allowance-protesters He was the lead researcher on the report Barriers to Participation in Education and Training (pdf), which is what the government has based its decision to abolish EMA on and it is the cornerstone of the government’s whole argument on “deadweight”.

He started by declaring that “the research has been misrepresented in many ways”. He made it clear that his research “was first and foremost not about EMA” and that they “only had one question that referred to EMA”.

And that he never thought that his report would lead to the abolition of EMA, and was not happy that it did, especially without the government even asking for his opinion:

“It happened without any discussion with us…”

So the government didn’t even consult the report they constantly quote.

On the issue of “deadweight”, when asked whether he was “happy with the concept that EMA has a deadweight cost of 88 per cent”, he said “no”. He also replied that it was “completely correct” when asked if he was unhappy that the change in government policy had been based on his research.

This is clearly quite damming criticism.

Mr Spielhofer went further to make it clear he was not happy about the 88% figure being described as “deadweight”, saying:

“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.”

He added:

“I think the 12% is quite a worrying statistic…”

Asked whether he agreed with the government that EMA has a deadweight of 88% he said “no” and made it clear that out of the 88% who said they would stay on with their courses, they “simply didn’t know” if they needed it and how taking EMA away would affect them. In other words they may want or have the desire to do their course but that does not mean they can.

He further acknowledges that the survey was not weighted to represent the 80% of EMA recipients who are from household incomes below £21,000 a year:

“We didn’t ask how much they were receiving so many could have just been receiving £10.”

He gave the analogy of free bus travel for people over 65 and said you wouldn’t use the same argument for abolishing EMA to abolish the free bus pass, something which the Tory chair of the select committee, Graham Stewart MP, said would also be a “good idea”.

Mr Spielhofer then slammed the government replacement for EMA, the Discretionary Support Fund, by saying that, as it was discretionary, many students “would think that they wouldn’t qualify and wouldn’t apply”.

Rather worryingly he added it was “the most vulnerable who will be the hardest hit” and it may push many of them into trying to enter the workplace in unskilled jobs without training, which will be hard at a time when there are no jobs. Something Save EMA has constantly warned is not a long term sensible economic plan as the number of unskilled, unqualified jobs in our economy diminishes by the day.

The government’s response to all this on the BBC has been to say there is a “range of evidence” for scrapping EMA, but as the prime minister and Michael Gove have used this “deadweight” figure continuously one has to wonder where is this additional research?

This is very damaging to the government and the education secretary as it destroys their entire augment for scrapping EMA – and comes only a few months before colleges and students start their courses.

http://twitter.com/double_karma/status/78855969794301952 Double.Karma

It’s now official: The government lied when scrapping EMA: http://bit.ly/m2Szco writes @SaveEMA's @JamesMills1984 #SaveEMA
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http://twitter.com/jonoread/status/78857318883790848 Jono Read

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http://twitter.com/jamesmills1984/status/78873122190794752 James Mills

It’s now official: The government lied when scrapping EMA: http://bit.ly/m2Szco writes @SaveEMA's @JamesMills1984 #SaveEMA
Richard

He could have spoken up earlier if he cared that much.
http://twitter.com/drpricey/status/78907607561158656 Alex Price

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http://twitter.com/imogenradford/status/78942774304583680 Imogen Radford

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http://twitter.com/lenarthur2/status/78948326258642944 Len Arthur

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mr. Sensible

Why am I not surprised with this government, and this education secretary?
http://twitter.com/mtancock/status/78950721957019648 Matt Tancock

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http://twitter.com/thegreenbenches/status/78950768199221249 Dr Eoin Clarke

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It’s now official: The government lied when scrapping EMA: http://bit.ly/m2Szco writes @SaveEMA's @JamesMills1984 #SaveEMA
http://twitter.com/peterleenasuwt/status/79110347730063360 Duncan Rothwell

RT @leftfootfwd "It's now official: The government lied when scrapping EMA: http://t.co/z1pZGZy writes @SaveEMA's @JamesMills1984 #SaveEMA
http://twitter.com/jamesmills1984/status/79144229452005377 James Mills

RT @leftfootfwd: It’s now official: The government lied when scrapping EMA: http://bit.ly/m2Szco writes @SaveEMA's @JamesMills1984 #SaveEMA
http://twitter.com/jamesmills1984/status/79144243666497536 James Mills

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RT @BrokenOfBritain @leftfootfwd: The government lied when scrapping EMA: http://t.co/k7wZOSb writes @SaveEMA's @JamesMills1984 #SaveEMA
Maxy

When it first became clear that the current government would scrap EMA, I pointed this out to LFF. At the time, they did not think it was a worthy political story. I also pointed out that we had insufficient information on the question of the sums needed to finance the repaymant of students loans. Lo and behold, last week the Common Select COmmittee alluded to a shortfall. I rest my case!!!!
http://twitter.com/andrewburgin2/status/79557154293563392 andrewburgin

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http://twitter.com/tomspray93/status/79560376232054784 Thomas Spray

The report on EMA wasn't actually on EMA, the 88% don't need it figure – manipulated. From the guy that did the report: http://bit.ly/l8kYOb
http://twitter.com/fusionet24/status/79561014886150145 Scott James Bell

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http://twitter.com/brumprotestor/status/79605608281681920 Brummie Protestor

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peacedreamer

Just another step at hitting the Teenagers of the UK .Many are feeeeling like they are a burden to their families. Without the EMA the which usually pays for simple things as lunch,snacks or busses (the colledge bus passes only cover precise journeys so if anything else occures ie illness,appointments etc, they have to pay) Many Teenagers feeling the pressure to ease the burden on their families tried work /training but havent been able to keep them ,or ended up in the wrong placement due to huge shortages in colledge spaces immediatly lose their entitlement to child benefit and child tax credit.They are unable to sign on the socilal system until 18 so their parents have no income at all for them, furthering their feelings of being a burden or often found their families throw them out. This is very common now and the homeless count in teenagers will rise rapidly.These children,and remember they are children,of today are seeing a very bleak picture,suicide rates are rising and depression. It appears our Government are once again punishing the poor ,young and old and we did not even vote for them.Shame on the UK for allowing this.
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http://twitter.com/goldsmithsucu/status/81670165145731072 Goldsmiths UCU

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http://twitter.com/nusstudentmedia/status/81670731557117954 NUS Student Media

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http://twitter.com/juliansharpe/status/81676360732520448 Julian Sharpe

It’s now official: The government lied when scrapping EMA: http://bit.ly/m2Szco writes @SaveEMA's @JamesMills1984 #SaveEMA
http://twitter.com/pablok/status/81681502420733952 Pablo K

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http://twitter.com/sean_gittins/status/81686192713768961 Sean Gittins

It’s now official: The government lied when scrapping EMA: http://bit.ly/m2Szco writes @SaveEMA's @JamesMills1984 #SaveEMA