Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Article Discussion

pimento

Hello, new person here.

My son is 16 in May and will be starting college in September. He lives with his grandparents because he doesn't get on with his dad.

I earn too much for him to get EMA, but obviously my mum and dad (who are pensioners) don't. Whose income is assessed? Mine or theirs?

Thanks

Gemmzie

The person who he lives with and gets his Child Benefit

pimento

That's great. Thanks!

excavationtime

Another new person!!

A lot of my friends get EMA and they get either £10, £20 or £30 a week according to household income. As far as i know everyone should get £500 in bonuses over the two years. Also 1/3 off school trips and music lessons.

dinigrow

Hi there.

I'm the EMA Coordinator at a Further Education College in Birmingham. With regard to the bonus queries... I have received official information that the September (returner) Bonus is being removed. As far as I'm aware, this applies to both new and existing claimants. It could well be worth existing claimants kicking up a stink about this, as students signed up with the expectation of getting this reward for coming back for their second/third year.

New applicants may well lose out, but as the current marketing material no longer states "Bonuses of up to £500", they are quite within their rights to do this.

Gemmzie

Dinigrow - thanks for the info, can you also confirm whether it's true that the salary boundaries for claiming are changing?

sheilavw

Just a bit of advice. We claimed Ema for our oldest and in the 2nd year we had a problem. Basically we were borderline for the £10. At that time I paid into my works company pension scheme and was under impression that on my P60 the contributions are taken off, but this wasnt the case. I ended up having to get a letter from my employer stating this and I did get the money. I now work in education as a teaching assistant and am thinking ahead to next year when my youngest leaves to go to 6th form. I am just about to join the works pension. Basically, is what happened before unlikely to happen again. Ema said at the time that pension contributions are always taken off the gross figure on p60. Has anyone else experienced this. Also my husband pays seperate pension . Am I right that you can put the gross and not the net down on the form. Any advice from people who have been in similar position? Also is threshold changing anyone heard?

Gemmzie

Threshold is staying the same for England but going up for Scotland apparently

carol_a_3

Hi, my son has been recieving EMA for nearly two years while he has been doing his A levels. He is planning to stay on at the same college next year to do a higher education foundation degree course. The other day he received a letter from EMA asking him to remember to apply for EMA next year and that, just because he got it last year he may not get it next year etc etc but to apply. The same as the letter he got just before his second year really.

Is this a mistake? They don't get EMA for higher education do they, he will be 19 in October. Thanks.

Savvy_Sue

carol, I would phone and check, but either way he needs to be applying for something. I don't know if the course you describe would be eligible for a student loan, but if not he may still get EMA.