Evaluation of the Education Maintenance Allowance

The evaluation found that:

• Education Maintenance Allowance supports and contributes towards a range of Welsh Government policies geared towards widening access to education, reducing the rate of young people who are Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) and addressing the link between poverty and educational attainment
• statistical analysis for the project indicated that students receiving Education Maintenance Allowance enrolled for post-compulsory education more quickly and where they did not study A-levels, studied for longer and achieved at a higher level than non-recipients
• whilst it was felt that most recipients would have continued with their education without the allowance, there was an overwhelming view from stakeholders that the Education Maintenance Allowance Scheme should continue in its current form.

The report makes eight recommendations arising from these findings.