This EPI report calls for a 16-19 student premium to tackle the sizeable attainment gap facing disadvantaged 16–19-year-olds. The report makes recommendations to the new government about how a new student premium might work, who would be eligible and the likely costs.
The report makes the case for a 16-19 student premium and considers who might be in scope, how much such a policy might cost, and wider considerations around its implementation.
Around 85 per cent of all 16 and 17 year olds are in education, taking a range of qualifications including A levels, and vocational, technical and lower-level qualifications in further education colleges, sixth form colleges and school sixth forms. Yet despite the requirement for young people to participate in education or training until age 18, there is no equivalent of the pupil premium once students turn 16. The cliff-edge in disadvantage funding at age 16 comes at a critical stage in young peoples’ lives: the qualifications achieved in the 16-19 phase have high stakes for students’ future progression, careers and lifelong outcomes.
The aim of a student premium would be to provide additional funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students in 16-19 education and help narrow the disadvantage attainment gap. It would continue the additional funding that already exists in primary and secondary education into the 16-19 phase and would build on the lessons learned from the pupil premium.
The report recommends that the student premium should be based on student-level and area-level measures of disadvantage. This would be additional to existing 16-19 funding and would be a fixed, per-student amount received by institutions. Setting the student premium at an initial rate to match the secondary school pupil premium, the policy would cost around £340 million annually and support 28 per cent of 16-19 year old students.