EMA

Education Maintenance Allowance – financial help for senior pupils

If you want to stay on a school or go to a further education college you may be entitled to an allowance called an Educational Maintenance Allowance or EMA.

These are weekly payments of £10-£30, dependent on household income, for students who are aged 16 before the 30 of September.

To qualify, households with one dependent child must be earning £24,421 per year or less, and households with more than one dependent child must be earning £26,884 or less.

EMAs are paid in addition to other support and benefits provided by the Government, and will not affect your family’s benefits or Child Benefit. It won’t affect any money you can earn from a part-time job either.

To qualify, you must attend classes regularly and sign an EMA Learning Agreement with the school that sets out what’s expected of you in terms of attendance, general conduct, completion of course work and progress with learning.

The EMA application form is available online. Copies will also be available from the school office – however – next sessions forms are not yet available, they should become available at some point over the summer – we suggest that you check out the following link to the appropriate page on the South Lanarkshire Council Website. You must re-apply each year.

SLC Education Maintenance Allowance Web Page

You can get more information from your child’s guidance teacher or contact the Educational Maintenance Allowance helpline on 0303 123 1011.