AoC President discusses EMAs and the risk of increasing NEETs

Chris Morecroft, President of the Association of Colleges (AoC), discusses EMAs and the risk of increasing the number of NEETs.

Mr Morecroft discusses the impact of cutting the EMA budget from £550 million to approximatelt £75 million, and explains how this will have a massive impact on learners who need to travel long distances to their place of learning.

According to Mr Morecroft, many students joined 2-year courses with the understanding that they would receive EMA payment for the duration of their course’s length.

He also argues that there is no legal sanction for 16-year-olds who do not attend training or learning, risking vastly increasing the number of NEETs because they may not be able to afford to travel long distances. The long-term impact and cost of a whole new generation of NEETs could potentially be felt a lot more in long term welfare costs than the previous £550 million EMA budget, he adds.