York College Students Union held a protest as part of national action against the proposed removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).

Students signed cards to send to their MP protesting against the scrapping of a benefit that helps poor students stay in education.

Students aged 16 to 19 currently receive up to £30 per week if their household income is less than £20,817 per year, to help them fund travel costs, as well as books and equipment.

York College Student Union president, Sam Garside said: “A large number of students at York College are in receipt of EMA and live in rural areas. They travel a substantial distance to get to college. EMA is a way of affording this transport and we believe that scrapping EMA is a backwards step in terms of providing a skilled workforce for the future.”

The Green Party has also added its voice to the campaigns against the move.

York Green councillor Andy D’Agorne, who works in further education in York and took part in the Hands Around The College protest last week, said: “Scrapping EMA is going to disadvantage young people from poorer backgrounds and will stoke up a skills shortage in future years.

We also face the prospect of young people dropping out of courses next summer without the qualifications they embarked on this September, purely on financial grounds. “Scrapping EMA is the equivalent to a huge income tax rise for the families in question.”

Green Party education spokesperson Rachel Fryer said that there was evidence EMA had reduced the number of young people not in employment, education or training, and improved attendance and punctuality.

“This is yet another cut which will affect the poorest people in our society and widen the gap between rich and poor,” she said.

Seven college principals from York and North Yorkshire put their names to a letter in yesterday’s Press appealing to the Government not to cut the allowance as planned next July.