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Education Maintenance Allowance is essential but must be updated
EMA is a life raft for many young learners in Wales and now also in Tower Hamlets — however, it is now far too small and its current form isn’t fit for purpose given the crises we face, writes LUKE FLETCHER MS
The Education Maintenance Allowance benefit system that supported children to stay in school was abolished by the Tory-Lib Dem government in 2010 in England, causing large protests across the country. Where it has survived in Wales, some argue that it is now far too low.

LAST month, Welsh poverty and inequality think tank the Bevan Foundation noted that the value of social security benefits is now at its lowest levels in decades.

This, at a time when levels of in-work poverty and inflation are at their highest, is driving many into desperate circumstances if they aren’t already there. Amid high costs and low temperatures, these are the despairingly loose threads of support to which people are clinging.

The Welsh government has been among the myriad voices contributing to the conversation around uplifts to various forms of social security. In October, along with the Scottish government, it called for a £25 weekly uplift to all means-tested benefits, including legacy benefits.

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