To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning whether his Department will continue to provide Pathways for Young People Education Maintenance Allowance for people who are not in education, employment or training; and to detail any discussions he has had with the Department of Education.

Given the 2015/16 budget outcome, resources are not currently directly available in the budget allocated to my Department to extend the Pathways Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme into the new European Social Fund (ESF) Programme 2014-2020. Taking into account the low uptake of EMA in the previous round of projects and the significant funding from ESF, this should not provide an onerous burden to projects.

Pathways EMA was introduced as one of a series of measures under the Pathways to Success strategy, supported by a ring-fenced and time-limited budget secured under the Executive’s Economy and Jobs fund in 2012. These programmes, and the associated budget, came to an end on 31 March 2015.

Organisations that were successful in the recent call for applications to the ESF Programme are free to utilise the overhead cost allocations they are receiving to cover expenditure such as allowances for participants. Examples were given of the type of additional costs which could be claimed in the revised simplified model, and it was made clear in the guidance, that was made available when the call for applications was launched, that any such expenses should be included in the 40% overhead costs. It is the expectation of my Department that EMA will be paid out of this 40% overhead costs allowance.

The following is an excerpt from the guidance which issued to organisations in late November 2014 prior to the closing date for receipt of applications on 6 January 2015.

It should be noted that the 40% ESF indirect Costs funding is to be used for all other costs associated with the delivery of your project and this should include participants’ allowances, childcare, staff travel, rent, etc.

Therefore, projects were made aware in writing well in advance of the closing date that participant costs could be included and claimed for in the indirect costs allocation.