Liberata, the back office functions company responsible for the administration of Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs), which recruited 100 employees in Nelson in September and sacked them in October was slammed today by Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice.

In a special adjournment debate called to highlight the fiasco, the MP told Education Minister, Jim Knight, that the company had failed to deliver on its contract and should face penalties.

Prentice told MPs: "EMAs are means-tested allowances of up to £30 per week which are paid to 16 to 19 year olds who stay in education.  They are, in effect, an incentive to help persuade young people whose families don’t have a lot on money to stay in education.  So, they are laudable.  But the company couldn’t process the applications and huge backlogs built up."

Speaking afterwards, the MP said: "There has to be an inquiry into what went wrong.  It is nothing short of scandalous that Liberata can walk away from this disaster of its own making without paying a penny in compensation."

Last week, the EMA contract from the Learning and Skills Council was transferred from Liberata back to Capita who had it from 2004 until last year.

Read the Adjournment Debate at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2008-11-25b.221.0&s=speaker%3A10487#g226.0