Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Article Discussion

Oldernotwiser

No. this would not count towards the household income, neither would siblings' income unless they are in a caring role for the young person involved.

"Whose income is assessed and how does it work?

The income of the adults in your home who have a caring/parental responsibility for you is assessed. In most cases this will be your parent(s), but in some cases this will be your grandparent(s), an older brother or sister, or another family member.

Not all income will be counted. For example, if your parents no longer live together, any maintenance paid by the non-residential parent will not be counted."

Pont

I take on board what you say The One Who. However in Scotland a child starts school between the ages of 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 (CAB Scotland) and in England and Wales a child starts school at the beginning of the term during which the child is 5 (CAB England and CAB Wales). In effect a child residing in England or Wales starts school earlier than a child in Scotland so perhaps the cut offs for the EMA should be earlier in England and Wales rather than later.

Whilst I agree that with any scheme there will always be those who miss out, in this case the rulings are shortsighted. The EMA was set up to encourage, and enable, young people to continue with their education. Clearly this isn't taking into consideration 'fast-tracked' children. The situation stands that talented and (or) gifted students will not receive any encouragement to continue with their studies, and that not all parents can enable these children to do so. Certainly if I earned over the threshold - if only! - I would be delighted to assist my daughter financially.

With regards to university education, tuition fees are not assessed on parental income, everybody pays the same amount. If the parents can afford to pay the fees fine and dandy, if not the student takes out a student loan to pay (and probably find themselves paying the loan off until they hit retirement age!). Nothing in university education is scaled to parental income.

The main crux of my argument is that my year 11 daughter (dob 5th September, 1992) will have nothing to do next year in the present situation. She is anticipated to gain 12 'A's or 'A*'s so to repeat year 11 is a waste of everybodies time, especially hers. She has been accepted into 6th form both in school and college to study 'A' levels but the cost of bus fares alone are prohibitive.

Never once did we ask for my daughter to be treated differently from her year group 'due to her age' so why now is she being set aside from her peers 'due to her age'. Perhaps I should have insisted that her top scoring CAT and SAT results shouldn't have been included in the school's and LEA's performance results 'due to her age'!

I can't help but agree with previous posters that perhaps all students who attend further education courses, be it through ability or age, should receive the same amounts irrespective of their parents income. The present means-tested EMA is clearly open to abuse. Additionally just because parents have an income of over 30K a year it doesn't mean they will automatically sub their child £30 per week.

Anyway, good debate.

katy-lou

Hi all 1st post :j

I get £30 a week Ema (I'm 18, second year at college).

I do understand some peoples point's however Ema is an incredibly useful source of income for myself.
I do 2 art subjects so it pays for alot of those costs.
Before I had my car it would cost £12 a week bus fare (with a half pass), then by the time you add lunch etc it does leave much free.
I'm not saying the system is flawless and yes I admit weeks I'll spend that £30 on a night out but if your on the example of £55k + benefits then you should be able to afford to pay for bus fares.

The_One_Who

Pont wrote: »

With regards to university education, tuition fees are not assessed on parental income, everybody pays the same amount. If the parents can afford to pay the fees fine and dandy, if not the student takes out a student loan to pay (and probably find themselves paying the loan off until they hit retirement age!). Nothing in university education is scaled to parental income.

Again, I can only really speak for the case in Scotland. Here we do not pay tuition fees so that never really entered my thoughts. Everything you can receive (the Young Student Bursary, student loans and travel expense claims) are all income assessed.

Savvy_Sue

Pont wrote: »

The main crux of my argument is that my year 11 daughter (dob 5th September, 1992) will have nothing to do next year in the present situation. She is anticipated to gain 12 'A's or 'A*'s so to repeat year 11 is a waste of everybodies time, especially hers. She has been accepted into 6th form both in school and college to study 'A' levels but the cost of bus fares alone are prohibitive.

I am just wondering, and I don't know for certain, but if until now your DD has had a bus pass, and if she is not of school leaving age, then does the LEA not have to continue paying for her travel for the next year? If you're in Scotland I don't know how things work up there.

Also it is worth looking into what season tickets / discounts are available. Our local bus company offers a number of complicated options, working out which is most cost effective takes a while!

Pont

Thanks for the post Savvy_Sue - all suggestions gladly received!

As far as I'm aware the cost of transport is £115.00 a term 'for all students attending 6th form' with the exception of those with disabilities. I can't find out if the LEA have any obligation to provide free transport for those attending post compulsory education, but I would guess not. There is an added complication here because the 6th form college is out of county (we live in Wales, the college is in England).

Again, if my DD will receive the same rights/benefits that all the other students will be receiving, then there is no gripe with having the same responsibilities/payments that all the other students will recieve. Seems like we're stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea!

Anybody out there experienced the same problems?

danielle0817

Where im from everyone gets a bus pass so therefore ema has nothing to do with travel in my county, i dont no if this applies else where but everyone here gets their £115 per term paid for so i would enquire if i were you as this is a huge financial help AND IT DOESNT DEPEND ON INCOME WOOOOO at least one thing is FAIR. I still think EMA is a really unfair system, i have spent approx £200 since starting college and ive only been there 5 month nearly and thats excluding lunch money (£15-20 per week), clothes etc and my mam and dad have had to fund that...the whole things a joke.

veggie4life

I should now qualify for EMA due to a change in my parents income. I couldn't previously apply as they had to base their earning on the last tax year. I'm just wondering when or how I can obtain a P6o that will show the change in income .

Savvy_Sue

The P60 is given by the employer after the end of the tax year, MUST be given by a particular date in May, often given with the payslip at the end of April.

Pont, it's obviously complicated by the fact that your daughter is out of county, unless that's the nearest appropriate centre for her to attend, but my point is that if she is not yet OLD enough to leave school, surely the LEA still have a duty to pay for travel (subject to all the distance / nearest school restrictions), regardless of the fact that the course she's studying is not compulsory - being at school IS.

I know a lad who's a year younger than his peers, when he went for his 6th form interview his mum said that if he was asked WHY they should give him a place, one answer was "Because I'm too young to leave school!"

bestpud

danielle0817 wrote: »

EMA is disgusting!!! I go to sixth form now get up 5.45 to leave at 7.30 everyday sit on the bus for 45 mins, go there until 3.30 sit on the bus for another 45 mins and get in at 5.30 and get NOTHING!......

but your family have worked hard all their lives so were not giving you nothing ahhhhhhh how annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!! something should be done about it!!

I find your post offensive! :mad:

Firstly, you are lucky you can find the money for your materials - lots couldn't, hence EMA.

There are a lot of people out there who have worked hard all their lives, are still working hard to support their families and will still be working hard well into their sixties, if not seventies. BUT they are not necessarily on an income high enough to prevent their children getting EMA. People CAN AND DO work damned hard for the minimum wage!!!

And, get this, not everyone who WORKS VERY HARD and gets a LOW INCOME is in that position through choice or because they have sat on their backsides all their life!!

Do you know what I like about EMA?

It turns the tables slightly! It makes 'children' like you sit up and realise you can't have everything your own way. The worse off children will have learnt that a long time before you did!

Life is not fair, you will always get people who abuse the system. However, EMA softens the blow a bit for those (the majority of claimaints irregardless of what the moaners in here would have us believe) who haven't been as fortunate as you have. And 'fortunate' encompasses more that the amount of pocket money you do or don't get - it's about your whole lifestyle.