EMA 2009/10 guide discussion

SingleSue

When do you apply for EMA? My son is due to start 6th form in September and I am not at all sure of the timescales.

Lokolo

SingleSue wrote: »

When do you apply for EMA? My son is due to start 6th form in September and I am not at all sure of the timescales.

Not sure, but this is the webpage you want

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/14To19/MoneyToLearn/EMA/DG_066955

Just look it at every few weeks to see if it has been updated.

Other than that, get your DS to ask at school....

SingleSue

Many thanks, it was more for my own information rather than anything else....knowing my son, he has probably already asked and just not said. He's a pretty independent sort of lad, he can even do his own clothes washing!

hwelte

One thing the article really does not make clear is that an EMA claim's eligibility is based on the previous tax year's parental income, NOT the current one. So, in our case in the 2008/9 tax year we earned above the eligible level; this current tax year we (parents) are unemployed so when our son started A'levels in September 09 he wasn't able to claim EMA, even though our income at that stage was critically low, to the extent of almost being evicted from our home. April 6th will see us claiming because 09/10 income is 0 (for EMA purposes) as all benefits. We've been told that there's no way around this!

shazza71_2

my son gets £20 per week, my hubby lost his job in november and we are living on
£200 per week benefits, EMA didnt want to know, they said his money will go up to
£30 per week in September, so we are left to struggle on....

Alison_B

My son is in full time education. We applied for EMA in September but were told that he was not eligible and missed out by about £50. My husband was made redundant at the end of February and have applied for EMA for him again but have been told that he will not get it as our circumstances have not changed as they take it from 08/09 tax year. They told us to get back in touch in September and they will see if he is eligible but by this ruling, he won't be able to claim as 09/10, my husband would have earned over the threshold again.

This seems so unfair that we have no income at present and are living off our savings at the moment and my son can't claim but in 2011 if we won the lottery, my son could claim £30 per week as our income for 2010/2011 was within the limits.

Why won't they help you when you need it?

missmandikat

Does anyone know if redundancy pay counts towards earnings when applying for EMA

Cyaniide

missmandikat wrote: »

Does anyone know if redundancy pay counts towards earnings when applying for EMA

My friend doesnt get ema because her mum had redundancy pay so i think it does count.


What can you do if your college suddenly decides not to pay, despite you still doing what it said you had to in your contract? I'm thinking of ringing the people up about it and seeing what they say but I thought I'd look here first as this place looks friendly enough.

Oldernotwiser

Cyaniide wrote: »

What can you do if your college suddenly decides not to pay, despite you still doing what it said you had to in your contract? I'm thinking of ringing the people up about it and seeing what they say but I thought I'd look here first as this place looks friendly enough.

The college doesn't actually pay EMA; they just administer it.

Have you not been attending/achieving satisfactorily?

Cyaniide

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

The college doesn't actually pay EMA; they just administer it.

Have you not been attending/achieving satisfactorily?

Yeah, they've not been administering it. Sorry, wrong word there

Well I havent been at college every day... But then the contract says if you have an authorised absence it would still be paid. And it has been authorised as far as I'm aware as we've been contacting them every time I've not been there. It's not just been not bothering, it's been because my mum is seriously ill. But I have handed in all the work apart from 2 history essays which the teacher hadnt told me about until yesterday.