Jersey maintenance grant threshold to increase

More families will have access to the grant helping with university living costs from 2025

More families will have access to the largest available government grant to help fund university living costs from 2025, the education minister has confirmed.

Currently, full maintenance grants can be claimed by families that earn less than £50,000 a year - a limit that has remained unchanged since 2018 despite inflation.

The announcement comes after a parent from Jersey said she may be forced to ask her child to use a food bank at university because their government grant could not cover all their living expenses.

Deputy Rob Ward said the threshold would be increased by 5.2% from September 2025, as long as politicians agree to it in the government's budget - which will be decided in November.

Mr Ward said the thresholds had been "determined by reference to the average incomes in Jersey" and they would be reviewed each year.

The Jersey Student Loan Support group said that it was "a start towards fixing the threshold" but that it was "still short by over 31% of where it ought to be".