Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Article Discussion

DailyClicker

Quick little fact about the EMA!

[FONT=&quot]The EMA puts money straight into your bank account. It’s a great way to earn extra money to help you stay on at college or sixth form. You can get up to £30 per week to help you out!!

It's a fantastic way to save
[/FONT]

bestpud

DailyClicker wrote: »

Quick little fact about the EMA!

[FONT=&quot]The EMA puts money straight into your bank account. It’s a great way to earn extra money to help you stay on at college or sixth form. You can get up to £30 per week to help you out!![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It's a fantastic way to save [/FONT]

That was random!

Btw, are you going to answer the above?

DailyClicker

bestpud wrote: »

That was random!

Btw, are you going to answer the above?

Sorry! What did you want me to answer?

The best place for questions and answers about the EMA is this website:

[FONT=&quot]http://ema.direct.gov.uk/[/FONT]

aaranj

DailyClicker wrote: »

I've been chosen to represent EMA, and wanted to gather your views on the current system!
help for me

who asked you to represent EMA?

DailyClicker

A marketing company for young people called Dubit

Alison_B

I think that EMA is a good idea for the struggling families but I think that it gets misused. My son is due to go to college this year and we cannot claim for it as we are slightly over the threshold. We still have all the clothing, equipment, bus fairs, dinner money etc to provide. My friends daughter gets £30 per week and loves it as she bought her boyfriend presents for his car with it and paid for driving lessons - not exactly what it is supposed to be used for.

One thing that I find really annoying though is the bonuses that they get given for attendance, meeting targets etc. My son will be attending just like the EMA students, working just as hard but he won't be rewarded in the same way for this. If bonuses are going to be awarded as a kind of praise for doing well, the bonuses should be paid to all who attend, regardless of whether they receive EMA or not.

skylight

Hello there. I have had a quick read through and cannot find the answers I am looking for.

SD was not going back to college. Now she might... ho hum... She is 17 now (18 in Jan09) and would be doing a Level 2 in childcare (not higher education).

When is the latest she could apply for EMA if she went back in Sept this year? If she works, does that affect the amount of EMA she can claim or is it based only on parental/guardian household income?

I am well aware its very late in the day. She is not the most pro-active of people....

aaranj

skylight wrote: »

Hello there. I have had a quick read through and cannot find the answers I am looking for.

SD was not going back to college. Now she might... ho hum... She is 17 now (18 in Jan09) and would be doing a Level 2 in childcare (not higher education).

When is the latest she could apply for EMA if she went back in Sept this year? If she works, does that affect the amount of EMA she can claim or is it based only on parental/guardian household income?

I am well aware its very late in the day. She is not the most pro-active of people....

she can apply up until 31/08/2009 for ema 08/09, however she would only get it from the date she hands her NoE to her college. it would not be backdated to september

Savvy_Sue

Alison_B wrote: »

My friends daughter gets £30 per week and loves it as she bought her boyfriend presents for his car with it and paid for driving lessons - not exactly what it is supposed to be used for.

there is no 'supposed to be used for', AFAIK. If my sons were getting it, they'd have to use SOME of it for transport to and from college, but I'd definitely encourage them to get driving lessons! There will never be a better time to learn, IMO!

999

aaranj wrote: »

she can apply up until 31/08/2009 for ema 08/09, however she would only get it from the date she hands her NoE to her college. it would not be backdated to september

Skylight. The above is not correct. The actual back dating rules are shown below.

Back payment of EMA
23. A young person may apply for EMA payments at any time:

• where an application is made after the start of the learning programme, and the application is received by the HAPB within four weeks of the start of the learning programme, payments may be backdated to the start of the learning programme;
• where an application is received more than four weeks after the start of the learning programme, payments may be backdated to the date on which the HAPB received the application;

Basically for most FE courses that start 1st September your daughter has until 28th September to submit an application. The application does not have to be correctly completed either - just make sure it is received by the 28th.

As there is a large backlog this year I would send the application by recorded delivery.

No it doesn't matter if she works.

Good Luck.