Education Maintenance Allowance

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Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) (Welsh: LWA or Lwfans Cynhaliaeth Addysg) is a financial scheme applicable to students and those undertaking unpaid work-based learning in the United Kingdom aged between sixteen and nineteen whose parents have a certain income. This applies to those doing, or applying to do, at least 12 hours of guided learning on further education courses in school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and Further Education colleges. This includes a wide range of courses up to and including level 3, such as A-levels, GCSEs, GNVQs, NVQs and other vocational qualifications. Those partaking in an E2E (Entry to Emploment course, formerly known as Work based Learning) must do at least 16 hours a week of guided study. Any missed lessons except for extenuating circumstances voids payment for that week. As of 2008, the weekly payment breaks down as such:

• £30 per week for those whose household income is under £20,817 p.a.;
• £20 per week for those whose household income is between £20,818 and £25,521 p.a.;
• £10 per week for those whose household income is between £25,522 and £30,810 p.a.

Additionally, bonus payments of £100 are available to students who are in receipt of EMA. These bonuses are available in January and July of the first year and September, January and July of the second year. A total of £500 extra money can be claimed in bonus payments over a maximum period of three years.

Benefits

The Labour Party claims the EMA scheme benefits greatly to teenagers from low-income households, encouraging people to stay in education past the legally required age of 16 (end of year 11; fourth year in Scotland). Once in education it encourages high attendance in return for bonuses. A recent report suggests that even with the EMA parents earning less than £30,000 a year still struggle to support teenagers to enable them to stay in education past 16.

In tests done by 56 of the 150 local education authorities, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Loughborough Universities found staying-on rates improved up 5.9 percentage points among those who were eligible. This effect was most pronounced amongst boys whose parents were unemployed or employed in unskilled or semi-skilled manual jobs, the group with lowest stay-on rates, and arguably facing the most social pressure to earn money and peer pressure that education is unimportant.

A benefit not often mentioned by the government is that the EMA can be spent on goods or services for motivational purposes. It brings equality between teenagers of different income families to be able to spend money on personal items, therefore motivating to attend school, and to carry on with their education with a more equal quality of life experienced by those from 'better off' families.

Criticisms

The system can be abused in some instances. For example, if a student's parents are divorced, and their parents' income came to £35,000 p.a. pre divorce, the student in question could live with their mother, who earns £17,500 p.a. Because they only live with their mother, the household income would be the mother's wages, and not the father's.

Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative party have stated opposition to EMA Liberal Democrat education spokesman Phil Willis, said: "There are significantly more important things to do with £20m than give young people a Christmas bonus."

Conservative spokesman Chris Grayling said: "This is another blatant example of the government trying to fiddle the figures. Bribing young people to sign up for courses they may not complete, might make ministers' targets look achievable - but they do absolutely nothing to help solve this country's chronic skills shortage."

External links

• EMA England
• EMA Scotland
• EMA Wales
• EMA Northern Ireland