IT services firm Liberata has been fired by the Learning and
Skills Council for failing to process hundreds of thousands of
student grant applications on time.
News of the contract termination came on Radio 4's Today
programme this morning and it is believed to be because of a
computer system failure.
Neither Liberata nor the
Learning and Skills Council
has confirmed the decision online.
An alternative company is said to have been lined up to take
over the delivery of the delay-hit education maintenance allowance
(EMA) grants,
BBC
News reports.
Tens of thousands of students are still waiting for payments,
more than two months after the beginning of term.
The allowances are paid to around 600,000 teenagers from
low-income families. They are an incentive to keep them from
dropping out of education.
The contract to deliver the allowance and other payments is
worth over £1m a month.