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An estimated 150,000 students from low-income families are without their state grants because the IT contractor that processes them is having technical problems. The grants of up to £30 a week to encourage the pupils to go to college are being held up in a computer system run by Liberta, the Learning & Skills Council’s contractor. The company has been forced to take on 400 extra staff, at its own expense, to ensure a swift turnaround following what the council said were “unacceptable delays”. Although the council vowed to backdate payments to the students, normal processing will not resume for a number of weeks, prompting fears that the hardest-up ones will pull out. Of the 157,000 applications for the grants, named Educational Maintenance Allowances, to be fully assessed, 133,000 youngsters have been told they will receive their payments. But the LSC said it estimates that about 150,000 applications were delayed thanks to technical glitches at Liberta, which it was working with closely to sort the backlog. Compounding the situation for the students, the council confirmed their grumbles that telephone help-lines had been jammed and had also suffered “technical difficulties”. Liberta has a six-year contract worth £75m to administer the student grants after winning in from Capita in July 2007. In a statement confirming the delays, the LSC pointed out it awarded Liberta the contract following a “substantial and detailed procurement exercise, the normal practice across government.” Sep 5, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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