AROUND half of Warrington's 16-year-olds could be getting money to stay on at school.

The weekly cash grant available is of up to £30 a week with an extra £100 available in bonuses throughout the year.

The recently launched Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme is means tested and is only available to 16-year-olds in a household with an annual income of up to £30,000.

The initiative, which will be managed by the Learning and Skills Council, is designed to support young learners meet the costs of staying in full-time learning.

Julia Dowd, executive director of Cheshire and Warrington Learning and Skills Council, said: "EMAs aim to address financial barriers to young people staying in learning, particularly in families that are less well off. You can learn and earn at the same time.

"Locally we're lucky in that the vast majority of young people stay in learning at 16. However, by the age of 17 some of these young people have dropped out, with one of the reasons being that they look around and see other people in work or paid training and want a bit of money in their own pockets."

EMAs are not limited to buying textbooks. They can be used to offset the costs of transport, course materials or books, but ultimately the student decides how to spend the money.

Julia added: "However, it's not money for nothing. Both the regular allowance and any bonus payments depend on students meeting agreements they will have signed up to on regular attendance and what they hope to achieve. It's quite simple: if you stop going to college or don't work hard you won't get paid."

Application forms can be found at schools, colleges, Connexions' branches, downloaded from http://www.dfes.gov.uk/financialhelp/ema, or call 080 810 16 2 19.