Higher Education student support package increase: equality impact assessment

Key Findings

The impact analysis identified that there are gaps in the information available relating to pregnancy and maternity within full-time higher education students studying in Scotland. As a result, we cannot determine if the increase to the student support package will have a positive impact on this characteristics and instead have to assume a neutral impact. However, in general the increase to the student support package is seen as a positive change as it encourages students in Scotland to enter and remain in higher education.

Whilst the EQIA identified positive impacts with regards to equality groups, it did not consider the policy position of Care Experienced students receiving an increase via bursary, with the remaining student cohort receiving loan.

This was justified on the basis that the Commission on Widening Access (COWA) report 'A Blueprint for Fairness' recommended that living cost loans be replaced with a non-repayable bursary for learners with care experience from Academic Year 2017/18. The COWA observed that challenges faced by those with care experience, both in nature and magnitude, set this group of learners apart from others. In addition, under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, Corporate Parents have duties to deliver on to Care Experienced people. Overall, they have a responsibility to promote the wellbeing of Care Experienced people. To do so they must understand the lives of Scotland's looked after young people and care leavers and respond to their needs as any parent should. In terms of the legislation, Scottish Ministers are named as a Corporate Parent. This policy position is therefore consistent with this approach.

In any case, we have not identified any disproportionate impact on equality groups as a consequence of giving care experienced students the particular advantage of receiving a bursary uplift instead of a loan uplift. The data does not suggest a higher proportion of any particular equality group in the general student cohort compared to the care experienced cohort, indeed there are circumstances in which Care Experienced students have a higher representation amongst equality groups, which can be seen for disability and ethnic minorities.

We are aware that other subsets of the general student population also share some common characteristics with care experienced students. For instance, we are aware of the recent research on estranged students. However, we consider the relevant comparator for the current policy to be all students with protected characteristics in the general student cohort who will not benefit from the bursary uplift, rather than a further subset of that cohort.