MSE News: EMA replacement fund unveiled to help poorest school kids

linbow

Hi i am alittle confussed with wots going on !! :money:

i am on benifits at the moment due to ill health and my daughter has been at college for 2 years and getting the £30 ema a week.
she will be in her final year starting in september so will she still get ema. ??

and my son starts his first year at college in septmeber so will he get the replacement ema??

how do you apply for it ??

would be grateful of any help.
thanks;)

geordie_lass_2

debs626 wrote: »

She's at school at the moment (about to take gcse's) and gets free school meals because I'm a single parent on JSA

I was asking if anyone knew if she would qualify for funds from the bursary ? .... under our present circumstances

This link might help
http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/0/501AD0A35CA3E4F6802578620051AEF9?OpenDocument

It seems that there is going to be an 8 week consultation scheme between government and colleges to fine tune bursary details.

Incidentally, under the old scheme some colleges did offer free meals to some students whose families were on a low income, some also offered free travel to all students who lived a certain distance away, some offered a travel subsidy. I believe that some funding came from local authorities which is why it varied from one county to another.

I guess we will have to wait and see what happens next, whether the scheme is standard across the board or if individual colleges will be free to use their discretion.

Taiko

Some local authorities, like mine, also offered free transport to students on full time courses free transport to college, and assistance with costs of transport for every single student. Depending on household income, they'd have to pay the first £360/£500 a year, and anything over would be refunded in full.

Blackpool_Saver

The way I read it, it said that youngsters on income support would get the bursary, now does that mean where the parents get the income support or the youngster in their own name ?

Akom

Taiko wrote: »

Akom, were your fees upfront, like the old style students (fee loans only came in in 2006, after all. Anyone before that had to pay their fees upfront).

Confused!

I didn't go to Uni so wouldn't have paid anything.

Should this question have been aimed at Percy1983?

Percy1983

It might have been my question, in short my parents income was too high for me to get a penny from the government and my parents had to many debts to give me a penny.

In short I did what I had to do and took a job on next to no money with the agreement of time and money for training (fees where upfront), in short I was working full time for £40 a week at first.

As it is I proved that if you want something enough you will make it happen and not expect it to be handed to you on a plate.

mark61120

This criteria of 'Free school meals' is being bandied about a lot lately as being a catch all for children from poorer backgrounds (such as university fee reduction).

I am separated (and was unfortunately, made redundant and am on income-based jsa) and my son lives with his mother who only earns £12000 a year. She receives child tax credits and so he does not get free school meals as this is factored into the child tax credit.

It appears that he and children in his situation will fall through a gap and receive nothing.

Rob63

My son is doing GCSE's in June and will start Year 12 this September - we don't qualify for free school meals but total income is approx £20K. Will any payment, bursary etc be upto the school?
Sixth form students are also charged for bus transport

Wicked_witch

mark61120 wrote: »

This criteria of 'Free school meals' is being bandied about a lot lately as being a catch all for children from poorer backgrounds (such as university fee reduction).

I am separated (and was unfortunately, made redundant and am on income-based jsa) and my son lives with his mother who only earns £12000 a year. She receives child tax credits and so he does not get free school meals as this is factored into the child tax credit.

It appears that he and children in his situation will fall through a gap and receive nothing.

I've been actively involved in campaigning for EMA and have also made a point of emailing my MP, the education minister etc to point out this very flaw. Hopefully this is the kind of problem that will be ironed out during the consultation period, but I would certainly advise getting in touch with your son's college to ensure they plan to bear it in mind. Hopefully the free school meals criteria is just being used as an example of how future entitlement could be decided, but we certainly can't count on it. You really need to put your point across to the relevant people.

Wicked_witch

linbow wrote: »

Hi i am alittle confussed with wots going on !! :money:

i am on benifits at the moment due to ill health and my daughter has been at college for 2 years and getting the £30 ema a week.
she will be in her final year starting in september so will she still get ema. ??

and my son starts his first year at college in septmeber so will he get the replacement ema??

how do you apply for it ??

would be grateful of any help.
thanks;)

linbow, it appears from current plans that your daughter will continue to get £30 pw, while your son will have to apply to the college for whatever help they offer. They probably don't know themselves what it will be at this stage though!