Association of Colleges

07 July 2011

A quarter of a million people on benefits risk being priced out of education, according to new research from the Association of Colleges (AoC); of these 75% - 185,000 people - are women.

From September, most adults receiving ‘inactive’ benefits (which include income support, working families’ tax credit and housing benefit) will now have to pay the course fees.

The Government will only pay the fees for those receiving ‘active benefits’ - jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) or employment support allowance (ESA).

The research – a survey looking at the numbers of college students receiving benefits – indicates that the changes will affect 248,000 students nationally aged over 19 in English colleges, many of whom will be unable to afford those fees.

Courses of study for these adults include accountancy, nursing, midwifery, catering, teaching, hairdressing, computer aided design, English, Maths, plumbing, sciences, engineering, construction, carpentry and information technology.

Fees vary between institutions and courses but will typically be between £500 and £1000 for a full time course per year.

There will be some concessions for people aged between 19 and 24 studying to gain extra qualifications, but these are likely to help only a small minority of adults.*

“It is startling to see that 185,000 women are disproportionately affected by the proposals, as well as 33,000 disabled students,” said Joy Mercer, Association of Colleges’ Director of Education Policy.

“People receiving these types of benefits just can’t afford to pay hundreds of pounds out of their own pocket for courses; it doesn’t make any economic sense to block people on benefits from gaining the skills that will help them take that important step into the jobs market, or self employment, and to contribute as an active citizen and taxpayer in any society.
 

“These will be adults who want to improve their job prospects, increase their income (and therefore reduce their dependence on benefits) and give a better quality of life to their families.

“The changes will also affect people on benefits wanting to study an A-level or equivalent course and move on to higher education. Colleges are very clear that many of these adults receiving inactive benefits will be priced out of education by September.

“Also, the difference in support available to 19 to 24-year-olds, compared to those 25 and over, does not chime with Government plans to raise the retirement age to 66; people are working longer so to invest primarily in younger adults, to the exclusion of more mature students, is short-sighted.

“Research shows that people change jobs 14 times in their careers, and so retraining adults is generally a wise investment.

“Our research is the best data currently available on this issue – Government has a duty to put a stop to their plans until they have undertaken their own studies. We do not think they understand the likely impact of these proposals.”

 

Main research findings

England

248,000 college students in England aged over 19 currently receive inactive benefits

· 185,000 (75%) are female

· 33,000 (13%) are disabled

· 209,000 are aged over 25

London

65,000 college students in London aged over 19 currently receive inactive benefits

· 48,000 (75%) are female

· 43,000 (67%) are BME students

· 9,000 (13%) are disabled

· 57,000 are aged over 25

 

North East

6,500 college student in the North East aged over 19 currently receive inactive benefits

· 4,700 (72%) are female

· 1,000 (15%) are BME students

· 900 (14%) are disabled

· 5,200 are aged over 25

***Ends***

 

Notes to editors:
•  *Entry and level 1 students who are able to progress to a full level 2 (GCSE or equivalent) qualification will be funded if they are aged 19-24. If they are gaining a full level 2 qualification next year and are aged between 19-24 they will also be fully funded. Those students who are unable to progress to level 2 but gaining independent living skills and skills to access sheltered employment will be in the same situation as those aged 25 plus and will not be funded. Also, students in this age bracket who may have five GCSEs (grade A-C) from school, but want a vocational qualification to gain work, will also have to pay. This category of student is more likely to be on an active benefit (but might also be a young single mother or someone receiving working families tax credit).

Survey details
• The survey was conducted in May 2011 among the 74  colleges in London and the North East regions, in order to determine the number and type of students in receipt of inactive and active benefits.
• Just under half of colleges within each region responded.
• Each college taking part had to undertake their own survey or in depth analysis of student data.
• From data from these two regions we calculated the proportion of adult students in receipt of inactive benefits nationally.
• We did not extrapolate BME student numbers among those in receipt of inactive benefits nationally due to the significantly higher proportion of BME students in London compared to other regions.

For fuller survey details see   Govt risks pricing quarter of a million adults out of education

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