Education Maintenance Allowance
Encyclopedia
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s and those undertaking unpaid work-based learning in the Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland aged between sixteen and nineteen whose parents have a certain level of taxable income. This applies to those doing, or applying to do, at least 12 hours of guided learning on further education
Further education
Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...
courses in school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and Further Education colleges. This includes a wide range of courses up to and including level 3, such as A-levels, GCSEs, BTECs GNVQs, NVQs and other vocational qualifications. Those partaking in an E2E (Entry to Employment course, formerly known as Work based Learning) must do at least 16 hours a week of guided study. Any missed lessons except for extenuating circumstances voids payment for that week. As of 2010, the weekly payment for the England scheme breaks down as such:
- £30 per week for those whose household income is under £20,817 p.a.;
- £20 per week for those whose household income is between £20,818 and £25,521 p.a.;
- £10 per week for those whose household income is between £25,522 and £30,810 p.a.
Thresholds are more generous in Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland a flat rate of £30/week per student is payable
where assessed income is £20,351 or less (or £22,403 where there is more than one child in the household).
Up until 2010 bonus payments of £100 were available to students who were in receipt of EMA. These bonuses were available in January and July but as of September 2010 these bonuses are no longer available.. Bonuses are still given out in Wales, however, the bonuses will no longer be available in Wales at the start of the 2011/2012 academic year.
Benefits
The Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
claims the EMA scheme benefits greatly those teenagers from low-income households, encouraging people to stay in education past the legally required age of 16 (end of year 11; fourth year in Scotland). Once in education it encourages high attendance in return for bonuses. A 2006 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
report suggested that even with the EMA, parents earning less than £30,000 a year still struggle to support teenagers enough to enable them to stay in education past 16.
In tests done by 56 of the 150 English local education authorities in 2004, the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Institute for Fiscal Studies
The Institute for Fiscal Studies is an economic research institute based in London, United Kingdom which specialises in UK taxation and public policy...
and Loughborough University
Loughborough University
Loughborough University is a research based campus university located in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of England...
found staying-on rates improved up 5.9 percentage points among those who were eligible. This effect was most pronounced amongst boys whose parents were unemployed or employed in unskilled or semi-skilled manual jobs, the group with lowest stay-on rates, and arguably facing the most social pressure to earn money and peer pressure that education is unimportant.
2008 and 2010 payment problems
It was reported that EMAs in England were experiencing problems in 2008, when their computer systems and telephone lines were in technical difficulty. Liberata, EMA's administered company have reported that they have called for over 400 of their employees to process thousands of applications manually. They also warned that thousands of students in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
may not receive their allowance grants in time when they start further education
Further education
Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...
.
2010 Problems
in September 2009, EMA in Northern Ireland applications took up to March 2010 for students to get their first payment
Scrapping in England
The United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Government confirmed on 20 October 2010 that the Education Maintenance Allowance scheme in England was to be cancelled as part of a programme of budget cuts. The EMA scheme in England is closed to new applicants from January 2011, but students currently in receipt of EMA will continue to receive it for the rest of the academic year. It has been replaced by a £180m bursary scheme focused on students from a less wealthy household than others.
The EMA schemes in Wales and Scotland continue in effect after review by the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
respectively, and new applications continue to be accepted. The EMA scheme in Northern Ireland, after review by the Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
, will also continue in 2011.