BOLTON parents will receive grants of up to £30 per week if their children decide to stay on in school or go to college from this September. Education chiefs have been told the grants must be paid direct to families rather than to each individual sixth former. In January it was announced that Bolton was one of 12 towns nationwide selected for an experiment to see if weekly means-tested payments of between £30 and £40 can persuade youngsters to carry on their studies after the age of 16.

But so far local education chiefs have not been able to tell parents exactly how it will work because each of the towns will be trying out slightly different schemes.

This Friday education chiefs will meet with officials in London to find out the fine details of the Bolton scheme so they can draw up an official application process ready for September.

However they have already learned that Bolton is one of the towns selected to pay the money direct to the parents rather than the student and families earning £13,000 or under will get £30 per week.

But they expect to be told that Bolton students who qualify for the grant will benefit from an additional termly or end of year bonus if they stay the course and knuckle down.

Sixth formers in some other towns will receive grants of up to £40 per week paid direct to them so Government officials can test if it is more successful to pay the student or the family and assess an optimum payment.

Contract

Families earning £30,000 or over in all trial areas will miss out on the cash aid which is predicted to be paid out on a means-tested sliding scale starting at £5 per week.

Schools and Colleges will have to draw up learning agreements for students on the scheme who will lose their money if they break the contract.

A spokesman for Bolton Sixth Form College said staff believed the grants would particularly help students from poorer households who often turn their backs on A Levels to take low-paid apprenticeships or work-based training.

She added: "We think it will make a real difference to families who are struggling and are worried about the cost of keeping their children at school or college for another two years."

Education chiefs are appealing to parents NOT to contact them about the grants just yet because they cannot answer any queries until they draw up the official application process. A publicity campaign is planned once the scheme kicks off.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.