The Scottish Executive's flagship project to persuade youngsters from deprived areas to stay in full-time education is not helping those it was aimed at, according to research.

The research commissioned by the executive says the educational maintenance allowance (Ema) - introduced in 2004 to provide £30 a week to children from low-income families who attend full-time education - is not influencing their decision to stay on.

The allowances will cost the taxpayer £42.8m in the next academic year and yet the researchers found it is only providing a "financial incen-tive to those who do not need to be encouraged to stay in education".

The news comes as the SNP scrapped plans to raise the school leaving age from 16 to 18. In England and Wales the measure will be introduced in 2015.

Ministers in the previous executive hoped the weekly allowance and complementary bonuses awarded for meeting attendance and academic attainment agreements would also help prevent young people from falling into the Not in Education, Employment or Training (Neet) category.

However, the report concludes that the allowances were not an influential factor for most children in the study. It added that so few children at risk of becoming Neets receive the fund that it was impossible to ascertain the benefits.

There are an estimated 35,000 Neets in Scotland between the age of 16 and 19.

Academics estimate that young jobless people are costing Scotland £7bn every year as a result of crime, lost productivity and educational under-achievement.

Although the allowances are aimed at those children who fall into the Neet category, most of those benefiting from the scheme said they would have stayed in education anyway.

The research states: "The majority of Ema recipients were studying Highers and had planned to stay at school regardless of Ema.

"In this study most of the recipients did not need the incentives to continue their education. Those young people most at risk of becoming Neet were not involved. This was because the target group were already absenting themselves from school or were disillusioned with education and had already left school."

More than 40% of 16-year-olds are thought to receive the allowance in Scotland - a figure some politicians believe undermines the credibility of a system which was supposedly aimed at those with the greatest financial needs.

Statistics released last year also indicated that nearly 3000 of those being paid to stay on at school were failing to achieve the academic targets set for them to receive their additional bonus payment.

The study found those receiving the allowance were very positive about its benefits and said it motivated them to attend school more regularly.

However, there was "a lack of awareness and understanding" among 14 and 15-year-olds about the scheme and in some cases the payments had led to tensions between pupils.

A spokeswoman for the executive said: "We welcome the report's findings. It does tell us that Ema's are helping to improve attendance.

"We want to do all we can to raise awareness of the scheme and there is a wider evaluation ongoing so we will be looking at the outcomes of that. There are issues for us to look at and we will be doing that."

Previous ministers have maintained the scheme is the right way forward. Whether or not the scheme will continue under the SNP executive will depend on the results of further ongoing research.

Allan Wilson, the former deputy minister for lifelong learning, said last year: "If we are as a nation to succeed in eradicating Neet from our vocabulary then we need to increase the numbers of 16 to 19-year-olds in education or training and this scheme is vital in helping us meet that objective."