Body promises 'urgent' action after making additional support funds available to colleges.
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has announced a series of "interim support" measures to help students affected by delays in the payment of their Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
The organisation, which is responsible for administering the allowance, said colleges have been offered access to additional funding to ensure students can obtain financial support while they wait for their EMA application to be processed.
It added that the contractor processing the applications, Liberata, has taken on an extra 460 staff to speed up the delivery of the grants.
EMAs are available for students aged 16 to 18 years old from low-income backgrounds. They are intended to provide weekly term-time payments of up to £30 to cover education-related costs, such as buying books or travelling to college.
LSC chief executive Mark Haysom said: "Less well-off students starting courses without funding is simply not acceptable.
"This is a very regrettable and distressing situation. It is a matter of the utmost priority to resolve this issue swiftly."
The LSC is a non-departmental body charged with developing and promoting the UK's skills base.
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