A TEENAGER has received the bank details of another student in the post after applying for government funding.

James Hudson, of Tredegar Road, Wilmington, received a letter on Friday which was addressed to him.

However, as well as the form he needed, the letter also contained the bank details of Christopher Cooper, of Birling Road, Erith.

Around 150,000 students across the country have suffered delays in their application for weekly education maintenance (EMA) payments.

James applied for £30 per week from the Learning Skills Council (LSC) to support him during his studies.

The 16-year-old said: “They have made so many mistakes, but sending out people’s bank details to the wrong address is really terrible.

“If they’d gone to someone dishonest, they could have used them to steal money.”

In June, James applied to the LSC for help with fees for travel, textbooks and equipment while he studies at Leigh Technology Academy, Green Street Green Road, Dartford.

He is studying English literature, history and applied business.

Term started in the first week of September but by the beginning of this month James had not received any money or heard from the LSC.

The student says he called the LSC and was told his application form had been lost at its offices and he would be contacted within a few days after a search for the form had taken place.

James says he waited for a week but no call or email arrived, so he called the LSC again.

He was told the form had been found but some details were missing.

Because of this, he was told part of the form would be sent back to him so he could fill in the missing information.

When it arrived at his house it was accompanied by another document containing Christopher’s bank details.

James has been in contact with the LSC to discuss the best way to return Christopher’s bank details to its offices.

So far James has been without the EMA payments for six weeks and has had to borrow money from his parents.

Although the LSC told him his application will now be fast-tracked and the money he is owed backdated, he expects to have to wait another couple of weeks to receive it while his forms are processed.

He said: “When I was first applying for EMA I thought it was a great idea and would really help me.

“However, now I think it is terrible because I still haven’t received it and chasing it up has distracted me from studying.”

Christopher is 16 and studying at North West Kent College.

His 43-year-old mother Zuzanne said: “We were totally unaware of this.

“The bank details are private and confidential and should not be given out to anyone.

“I will contact the LSC and I expect a letter of apology and reassurance it will not happen again.”

An LSC spokesman said it could not comment on individual cases.

He added Liberata, the contractor which processes applications, was using a computer system which was unable to cope with the number of applications.

Due to this Liberata set up a manual paperwork system and took on extra staff to process applications and it is currently working through the backlog.

The spokesman says the delays are “unacceptable”.