Writing in the Sunday Mirror, Balls said:

Young [...]]]> Tthe bonuses paid as part of the Educational Maintenance Allowance are to be withdrawn. Ed Balls, schools secretary, said the bonuses – of £100 to those 16 to 19 year olds who qualify through attendance – will be honoured for January and July next year, but then scrapped.

Writing in the Sunday Mirror, Balls said:

Young people shouldn’t need a bonus of £100 every six months to convince them to stay on, not on top of the weekly money they receive.

It’s a view that misses the financial realities of many young people’s lives. It’s not that the payments convince them to stay on. They enable it. Without the bonuses, many will not be able to afford to complete their course, whatever their attitude to it.

The savings are estimated by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to be worth £49 million  in the coming financial year and £96 million the following year. That is not massive in the context of education spending. But the impact on poorer students will be decisive. An  NUS survey last year found that 65 per cent of those on maximum EMA would be forced to drop out.