Care to Learn

There has been some excellent news for student parents: NUS has been informed by the Young Person's Learning Agency that the Department for Education (DfE) has decided against making cuts to Care to Learn in 2012/13.

Care to Learn funds childcare for teenage parents in school and further education in England, and the DfE was proposing to cut its funding, despite it being an astonishingly successful allowance that for 77% of young parents is essential to enable them to access education.

NUS had been campaigning hard to save Care to Learn, and along with partners such as the Daycare Trust, Platform 51, the British Youth Council and the University and College Union, we had been lobbying the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to maintain the funds, as well as raising the issue in the media and with other politicians.

The cuts would have had a particular impact on young women, as all but a handful of the 8,000 recipients were young mothers. It would also have cost the government more in the long term than it would have saved, by increasing the numbers of young parents not in any form of education, employment or training.

Today's news will be a huge relief to those student parents who could have been affected by the cuts and huge thanks are due to all the activists who helped place pressure on the DfE.

But there is a note of caution to sound - the scheme remains under review and it's clear we will need to continue to defend Care to Learn for future years. The campaign isn’t over just yet.

If you have any question about this please contact david.malcolm@nus.org.uk