Education
Maintenance
Allowance
What is it?
• A weekly allowance for young adults who stay in Education after
they turn 16 which can be received for up to 3 years!
• An allowance of £30 a week!
• An allowance received for excellent attendance and for
maintaining and achieving the set in a learning agreement!
“I think EMA is a good way of encouraging kids to stay in education
longer and of providing support to those who do stay.”
Who can apply?
• If you were born between the 1st of March 1994 and 28th
of February 1998 you may be eligible for EMA!
• If you were born between the 1st of March 1994 and 30th
September 1997 you can receive EMA from August
2012!
• If you were born between the 1st of October 1993 and
29h of February 1998 you can receive EMA from
January 2014!
How will I be eligible?
To be eligible for EMA there are a couple of
things to be considered…..One is your
parents income…
Gross Household
Income
Number of dependent
children in the
household
Award
£0-£20,351
1
£30 per week
£0-£22,403
2+
£30 per week
How will I be eligible?
• You must be attending school for a minimum of 21
hours a week, as in guided learning hours within class
time. This can include study leave, projects, and work
experience at the discretion of the school.
• You must also meet the nationality and residency
requirements. You can obtain more information from the
EMA Unit about this.
How do I apply?
• Collect an application form from your school office or call 822 763 and
an application can be sent out to you.
• The earlier you apply, the earlier your application can be processed.
You must remember that there are deadlines and cut off dates on the
form. If your application is processed before certain dates your money
will be backtracked which means…MORE MONEY!!!
• Before submitting the application make sure all the relevant sections
have been completed by yourself and your parent/carer, all relevant
documents have been collected and the form has been signed and
sent to the address given.
• Once all your paperwork has been received you will receive a letter
stating whether or not the your application has been successful, the
date of your first payment and the amount you will receive. You must
take this to the school with the signed and completed Learning
Agreement to start your payments.
How do I receive my payments?
• To receive the payments you need to have a bank
account so the money can be paid directly into your
account. If you don’t have an account go to a bank and
it is easy to get set up.
• You will receive your payments for each week
fortnightly.
“EMA gives young people a sense of responsibility by
giving them money for the first time”
What can prevent me from receiving my
EMA payments?
• If you are late for school either in the morning or
afternoon with no sufficient explanation.
• If you don’t keep to the goals set in the Learning
Agreement.
• If you are absent without an explanation.
What do I do if I am off sick?
• If you’re off sick for less than 5 days you must fill in a
Sickness/Absence certificate and give it to the school. If
you don’t you’ll not receive the payment for the week(s)
the absence occurred.
• If you’re absent for more than 5 days, you need to have
a medical certificate with your details, date of absence
and your doctors signature. If you can’t get a medical
certificate a Sickness/Absence certificate must be
completed instead. You must return your form within 3
day of returning to school or your EMA payment for the
week(s) will not be made.
Any extra things I should keep in
mind?
• You will not receive EMA during holidays.
• You have to reapply for EMA each school year.
• Even if you have a part-time job, this is not taken into account
when you apply for EMA, if you are eligible you will receive it.
• Keep all your paperwork together as you will need to refer to it at
a later date.
• EMA is an excellent tool to help start saving for college or
university
• (From a student who has just finished her second year of
university.)
“ I thought it was a good help when it came to saving up and going
away to University, it was reassuring to know that I’d have
money every month so could focus more on my studies and not
having to worry so much about getting a part time job”