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ANNEX A: SUPPORT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO 16-19 YEAR OLDS
1. The packages of support available to learners are determined more overtly by the type of learning they are undertaking, or the institution at which they are learning, rather than by the age of the learner. However, within the different learning sectors, the amount of support available is often differentiated on grounds of age. The below is a high-level summary and may not reflect support available in particular individual circumstances.
Learning Opportunities for Which 16-19 Financial Support Is Available
2. The following paragraphs summarise the support available to 16-19 year olds in different parts of the lifelong learning system. References to means-testing are on parental household income, though the means-test regime applied to that income may vary between programmes.
School
3. The provision of learning in state-funded schools is funded by local authorities - there is no upfront cost to the learner. Maintenance support to learners in school is provided through the Education Maintenance Allowance ( EMA) programme, a scaled, means-tested entitlement of up to £30 per week. Local authorities also have the responsibility to provide transport for learners attending school. EMA is passported against benefits, which means that receipt of EMA will not affect any benefits entitlement. 16-19 year olds in school education remain eligible for Child Benefit ( CB) and Child Tax Credits ( CTC).
College - further education
4. Provision of non-advanced learning (further education) in colleges is funded through the Scottish Funding Council ( SFC) to colleges - for most full-time learners there is no upfront cost. Colleges receive a certain amount per learner from the SFC. Maintenance support for 16-17 year olds in colleges is provided through the EMA programme, a scaled, means-tested entitlement of up to £30 per week. Maintenance support for most 18-19 year olds in college is provided through further education bursaries. Bursaries are scaled, discretionary means-tested payments of up to around £80 a week. Discretionary decisions about bursary awards are made within the context of a national bursary policy, set by the SFC. While EMA is passported against benefits, FE bursaries are not. Where an 18 or 19 year old is in receipt of benefits in their own right, a bursary award counts as alternative funding and will reduce their benefits entitlement, which may result in them being worse off over-all; where this is the case, or for some other reason the learner will be made worse off by being awarded a bursary, an 18 or 19 year old will not be awarded a bursary, and may be awarded EMA instead. Colleges also provide assistance with travel expenses, additional needs support, and childcare costs. 16-19 year olds in further education remain eligible for CB and CTC.
College / University - higher education
5. Provision of higher education in universities or colleges is partly funded by the SFC, with tuition fees for individual learners being paid by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (though generally only for one degree's worth of learning). Maintenance support in HE is a scaled, means-tested entitlement, with both student loans and non-repayable bursary support available to young people (aged 16-25), to a total of around £80 per week. Institutions (both colleges and universities) also have funds available to help learners with travel costs, additional needs support, and childcare. Student loans and Young Students' Bursary count as alternative funding for the purposes of DWP benefits. 16-19 year olds in higher education are not eligible for CB and CTC.
Modern Apprenticeships
6. Modern Apprentices ( MAs) are fully employed. They do not receive any maintenance support but are paid a wage by their employer. MAs are exempt from the national minimum wage but participation in the MA scheme guarantees that they will not receive less than they would as an unwaged trainee in receipt of a minimum training allowance ( MTA), which is £55 per week. Actual salaries are a private matter between the employer and the MA but, in practice, we believe most MAs are paid substantially more than the MTA. Skills Development Scotland ( SDS) contributes to the costs of provision of MA training, but most of those costs are borne by the employer. There is no specific public contribution to travel expenses, additional needs support, or childcare costs. As MAs are paid a salary, they will not be entitled to most DWP benefits. MAs are not eligible for CB and CTC.
Skillseekers
7. 85% of Skillseekers are fully employed. As with MAs, they do not receive any maintenance support but are paid a wage by their employer, which must be at least as much as the MTA. Similarly, SDS contributes to the costs of provision, but most of those costs are borne by the employer. Those Skillseekers who are not waged receive the MTA. This is a flat-rate, non-means-tested entitlement of £55 per week. The full costs of provision for unwaged Skillseekers are met by SDS. There is no public contribution to travel expenses, additional needs support, or childcare costs. MTA counts as alternative funding for the purposes of DWP benefits. Unwaged Skillseekers are eligible for CB and CTC; employed Skillseekers are not.
Get Ready For Work
8. Participants in Get Ready for Work, similarly to unwaged Skillseekers, receive MTA of £55 per week, and the costs of provision are met by SDS. There is no public contribution to travel expenses, additional needs support, or childcare costs. Get Ready for Work participants are eligible for CB and CTC. Young People who are participating in the Life Skills element of Get Ready for Work on a part-time basis (16-25 hours per week) receive a £40 allowance. Young people who are participating in Life Skills on a more ad hoc basis (15 hours per week or less) do not receive an allowance.
Full Time Volunteering
9. Some full time volunteering projects such as Community Service Volunteers or ProjectScotland provide a small subsistence allowance which allows people to volunteer where they may not have been able to otherwise. In addition, there is no limit on the number of hours that people can volunteer and still claim benefits so long as they remain available for work and continue to meet the standard conditions of receiving benefit.
ILA Scotland
10. ILA Scotland is available to young people from the age of 16. Although there are already a number of other schemes to encourage learning targeted at this age group, there is no other financial support for young people in low pay low skill employment. For those who earn less than £18,000 a year or are on benefits, ILA Scotland will provide £200 or £500 towards the cost of learning with a wide range of approved learning providers including private and community based providers, colleges and some universities. This offers fee support to those young people who do not want to, or who are not yet ready to, participate in full-time HE or FE.
Learning Opportunities For Which No 16-19 Financial Support Is Available
Community Learning and Development
11. Community learning and development ( CLD) opportunities for young people, offered by a range of providers across statutory and third sectors can be offered within frameworks developed by community learning and development partnerships, which are facilitated by local authorities. Other opportunities for non-formal learning offered most frequently by the third sector may be funded through a variety of means, e.g. Lottery grants or European Social Fund. While allowances may be available in certain local authority areas, and there may be some interaction with the New Deal for Young People and the Life Skills element of Get Ready for Work, there is no consistent programme of maintenance support available to young people engaged in this type of provision, and no systematic funding for provision or for other needs. Where a programme of learning or activity followed by a young person is full-time, post-compulsory and non-advanced, local authorities have - under existing legislation and guidance - the power to offer EMA to those young people. This power has, to date, not been widely used.
European Social Fund Projects
12. ESF funding is available to a wide range of delivery agents across the spectrum of lifelong learning - FE colleges, local authorities, third sector organisations, training providers, and others are all eligible to bid for funding. Such projects may offer a "beneficiary allowance" to participants, which can be claimed by the organisation from ESF. There is no set level for the beneficiary allowance - each project can set its own level - and no strategic linkage between such allowances and the benefits system - each project is expected to negotiate with local JobCentre Plus offices.
16-19 Financial Support Which Is Independent Of Learning
13. Note that other forms of assistance, e.g. Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, may be available to 16-19 year olds on top of the allowances detailed below.
Jobseeker's Allowance for 16-19 year olds
14. Most 16-17 year olds are not eligible for Jobseeker's Allowance ( JSA). Certain young people who are independent of their parents and who fit a range of other conditions, including a requirement to be registered with Careers Scotland, may be eligible. JSA for 16-17 year olds is currently £47.95 per week. The young person must be available for and actively seeking work, and must not be in full-time non-advanced education. Jobseeker's Allowance is also available at the rate of £47.95 per week to 18-24 year olds who are actively seeking work; the criteria for eligibility are less stringent than for 16-17 year olds.
Income Support for 16-19 year olds
15. Income Support ( IS) is available to those who are independent of their parents and who, for various reasons, are not able to work ( e.g. caring responsibilities, disability, single parenthood). IS for 16-19 year olds is currently £ 47.95 per week.
New Deal for Young People (18-24)
16. Young people aged 18-24 who have been continuously unemployed for 6 months must take part in the New Deal for Young People ( NDYP). Those who have been unemployed for less than 6 months may be referred onto the programme.
- NDYP has four options for the young person:
- full-time education or training
- employment
- volunteering
- Environmental Task Force
17. NDYP participants on the full-time education or training option receive a payment equal to their previous JSA entitlement, plus a training premium - currently £15.83 per week. Those taking the employment option receive a wage from their employer. Those taking the volunteering or Environmental Task Force options will receive either a wage from their employer or a payment equal to their previous JSA entitlement, plus a training premium.
Incapacity Benefit
18. 16-19 year olds may claim incapacity benefit if they have been sick or disabled for 28 weeks or more in a row and they are not in full-time education (21 hours or more per week). There are three rates of incapacity benefit - short term lower rate which is £63.75 per week, short term higher rate which is £75.40 per week, and long term basic rate which is £84.50 per week.
Young Person's Bridging Allowance
19. If a young person aged 16-17 is registered with SDS but is currently in a gap between training placements or employment, they may be eligible for Young Person's Bridging Allowance ( YPBA) if they experience financial hardship. YPBA is currently £15 per week for up to 8 weeks. Eligibility for YPBA is assessed before eligibility for JSA.
Young People in Care and Care Leavers
20. Local authorities have a duty to provide financial support to young people aged 16 or 17 who are in care or leaving care. The exact amount given to individual young people is identified in a pathway assessment, but would be expected to meet the costs of rent, utility bills, food, household goods, insurance, clothing, travel and leisure. It should also be at least equivalent to the DWP benefits that would be available to 16 and 17 year olds at that time. This alignment with DWP benefits is important as young people move to the DWP system when they turn 18 and should not be faced with a loss of income at that point. Local authorities have the discretion to reduce payments according to savings or other income.
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