COLLEGE principals have united to voice their worries about the scrapping of Government grants paid to teenagers to encourage them stay in education.

The Government is ending the educational maintenance allowance this summer, leaving thousands of students, aged between 16 and 18, £30 a week worse off.

Jan Hodges, who heads South Essex College, Southend, and Mark Vinall, of Palmer’s College. Grays, have both written to MPs protesting about the move.

Mrs Hodges said: “I believe the Department for Education has made the wrong decision and disadvantaged young people in Thurrock, Basildon and Southend will suffer as a result of this decision.

“About 3,000 South Essex College students aged between 16 and 18, receive education maintenance allowance, which is almost half of all the young people at the college.

“The allowance is restricted to low-income households, and is predominantly taken up by those with lower achievement levels at school, those from ethnic minorities and those from single-parent families. It is a vital tool for increasing social mobility.

“While I accept that these are difficult times, financially, I believe financial support for young people continuing their education and training is a valuable investment towards creating a sustainable future for us all.”

Mr Vinall said he was particularly concerned the Government had stopped new applications for the allowance in December, before alternative arrangements had been put in place.

He added: “The overall spending cut, from £574million to possibly as little as £75million, will cause hardship for many young people and their families, and force others to narrow their choice.

“I urge ministers to reconsider their decision and remove financial obstacles to study for young people from low income families.”

A Department of Education spokesman said: “We have consistently made it clear we will still provide support for the 10 per cent of young people who really need help to stay in post-16 education, through substantially increasing the size of the Discretionary Learner Support Fund.

“In these tough economic times, we simply do not have the luxury of being able spend hundreds of millions on a programme which doesn’t see results in return for the majority of the money spent.”