Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the cost was of full maintenance grants to households earning less than £17,000 each year in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student support for each of the UK Government Administrations. Information on English applicants awarded Maintenance Grants is published annually by SLC in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education England’.

The amount of Maintenance Grants awarded to English applicants by their household income for the academic years 2012/13, 2013/14, and 2014/15 has been provided in the table.

Maintenance Grants ⁽¹⁾ awarded ⁽²⁾ to English applicants by their household income

Academic years 2012/13, 2013/14, and 2014/15 [provisional] ⁽³⁾

Source: Student Loans Company

Notes:

(1) Figures include Special Support Grants, which are payable in place of Maintenance Grants to vulnerable students who may otherwise have their DWP benefits reduced.

(2) Awards do not necessarily translate into payments. An awarded applicant will only receive payments once SLC have received confirmation from the student’s provider at the start of the academic year that the student has been registered on the course.

(3) The data are effective at November following each academic year. Figures for the academic year 2014/15 are provisional, as they are effective at November at the beginning of the academic year, and so will not include applicants who were awarded Maintenance Grants after November 2014. Complete figures for the academic year 2014/15 will be available from November 2015.

(4) Applicants awarded a partial grant, and whose household income is less than £25,000, are typically those who have suspended study for part of the year.