Have Your Say on a possible replacement for EMA

Oldernotwiser

bluetimone97 wrote: »

Our 18 year old son has used his towards the course trips cost (£200 a year compulsary), books, bus fare, printing credits etc, it does not cover all his costs and he has a part time job as well.
Our 16 year old son has £700 a year bus costs (and that is supposed to be subsidised) and trip costs on top, his EMA does not cover the full costs either and he has been unable to find part time work despite applying constantly, he leaves home for college at 6.30 in the morning and does not get home until 6 in the evening, most employers will not even interview him.

I wish we could help but our budget is extremely tight anyway and I cover the shortfall with our 16 year old.

I can't see how people use it to go out unless their parents subsidise more, in which case surely they can afford to, I know we cannot. Also some courses have alot of extra costs involved and I guess some do not, so maybe a fairer way is to help fund the bus pass, costs of trips, sports tracksuits (both my boys play for the college yet had to fund their own tracksuits) etc.

Parents whose children are in FT education receive child benefit and child tax credits, which should allow them to support their teenagers with their educational costs.

Loanranger

There should not be a replacement for EMA.

I agree with an earlier poster who said that it teaches young people to be less self reliant and to encourage the notion that the state will always pay.

I know many will disagree but I think that the previous government wanted to buy votes. Where better to start buying loyalty than with 16 year olds?

Who else but Labour could nationalise bribery?

Transport costs should be half price for those unable to meet the full cost and be by means of vouchers or a half price bus pass. An old idea.

As for lunch costs: why not ask the young person to make their own packed lunch?
They are surely capable of making a couple of sandwiches or a salad or whatever and taking a piece of fruit with them. A drink could be a refillable bottle of water from the tap with some added fruit juice.
No need for cash strapped parents to give them £3 for lunch each day nor to make up their lunch for them.

BTW, paper and envelopes and so on are stationery. Stationary means not moving.

Indie_Kid

Loanranger wrote: »

As for lunch costs: why not ask the young person to make their own packed lunch?
They are surely capable of making a couple of sandwiches or a salad or whatever and taking a piece of fruit with them. A drink could be a refillable bottle of water from the tap with some added fruit juice.
No need for cash strapped parents to give them £3 for lunch each day nor to make up their lunch for them.

I've never understood the argument of needing EMA for lunches.

Pont

This September my DD will be going to the nearest 6th form college, that offers her courses, to our home (28 miles away). It will cost me approximately £600 per year for her bus fares. We actually live in Wales (EMA continues) but the 6th form college is in England (no EMA). Because of where we live, and where DD wants/needs to go to 6th form, we're doubly shafted. As we live in Wales, EMA would be paid only if DD goes to 6th form in Wales. As we live in Wales there is no subsidised transport available to attend 6th form because we don't live in England.

Devolution has a lot to answer for! Be you in favour of EMA, or not, it's clearly an ill thought out scheme. It's patently obvious many students are receiving funds that they clearly don't 'need', others are 'jumping hoops' just to get an education against all odds.

I would agree with some previous posters - scrap EMA altogether - just give free transportation/materials to all students and be done with it.

bambinaUK

Simple answer it to provide Bus Passes, food cards and stationery/book vouchers instead of cash.

Printing is not free at most FE and 6th Form College, a resources fee of between £30-£95 is usually payable. My son pays £95 per year and his bus fares would be £600 per year if he had not claimed for financial help. Out of his group of friends, very few actually got £30 the majority got £10.

Some courses cost a lot in equipment costs, my son has had to purchase a significant amount of safety equipment and clothing as without it he would not have been allowed to do practical tasks.

Personally I think the media has latched onto the fact that some students boasted about using the EMA to fund their social lives, but the reality is that very few actually do and the public are more than willing to believe the worst of teenagers.

bambinaUK

sh1305 wrote: »

I've never understood the argument of needing EMA for lunches.

Unfortunately not all parents care about feeding their children and some households actually run out of food. I know of one young lady who is forced to hand over her EMA each week to her mother and never sees a penny of it.

Oldernotwiser

bambinaUK wrote: »

Personally I think the media has latched onto the fact that some students boasted about using the EMA to fund their social lives, but the reality is that very few actually do and the public are more than willing to believe the worst of teenagers.

It's not as simple as that. EMA was introduced to be an incentive for teenagers to stay in education, not necessarily to fund expenses. It's obviously going to be more of an incentive if it funds a social life than if it's used to buy books!

evespikey

Most people support the idea of helping those with low incomes with travel costs in order to support them in their education.

However it is a sad fact that the way EMA was distributed allowed people to fool the system and use it for other means.

I think most people would be happy to support a system that subsidized transport to college with those on low incomes. However this would have to be given directly to the transport provider, that is, through the local authority in the form of a bus pass, determined by parent's assets (not just income) and proximity to the place of study.

In this way those who do not need EMA(those who live close to the college, those whos parents are rich enough to retire early) will not be able to claim, but those who do, will recieve it.

Wicked_witch

As we live in London, my son already gets free travel and was entitled to a grant from college for other costs, so ema is a luxury really. That said, it has made our lives easier as we have a very low income and no longer have to give him pocket money. But at the end of the day, he is our responsibility and next year we will be making the extra sacrifices needed for him to continue at college regardless of whether he gets any replacement for ema. I do think free travel for all and books etc being lent or given by the college are the best way forward.

What I have noticed is that ema is used very freely as a tool to discipline and control students by the college and I wonder what methods will be used next year when tutors can no longer hold the threat of 'no ema this week' over the heads of problematic students.

Oldernotwiser

Wicked_witch wrote: »

As we live in London, my son already gets free travel and was entitled to a grant from college for other costs, so ema is a luxury really. That said, it has made our lives easier as we have a very low income and no longer have to give him pocket money. But at the end of the day, he is our responsibility and next year we will be making the extra sacrifices needed for him to continue at college regardless of whether he gets any replacement for ema. I do think free travel for all and books etc being lent or given by the college are the best way forward.

If you're on a very low income, you'll be receiving a substantial amount of money for your son by way of child benefit and child tax credit so it's not unreasonable to expect this to be spent on supporting him while he remains in education.