Labour Plans Maintenance Grants Funded by Levy

Labour will reintroduce targeted, means‑tested maintenance grants for tens of thousands of low‑income students studying “priority” level 4–6 courses, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced, with detailed design to be set out at the autumn statement or Budget. The grants are expected to be available to fewer than 100,000 students and will be funded by a new international‑student levy reported in some coverage at about 6%; the value of individual awards has not yet been decided. Supporters say the move will reduce barriers for working‑class students and align funding with the government’s industrial strategy, while critics including the UCU and some vice‑chancellors argue it treats international students as a revenue source and warn the levy could cost universities hundreds of millions of pounds. Research and student groups note maintenance loans have fallen far short of students’ living costs and say the measure may not go far enough. Phillipson also used the conference to press wider child‑poverty measures, including scrapping the two‑child benefit cap and pledging lower child poverty by the end of the parliament.