Education Maintenance Allowance

The EMA site is designed to support providers and partners with information about EMA.

If you have any questions this site doesn't answer please call our Learner Support Provider helpline on 0845 600 7979.

The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme is closed to new applicants

The Education Maintenance Allowance scheme closed to new applicants on 1 January 2011.

Young people with queries about the closure of the EMA scheme should contact the Learner Support helpline on 0800 121 8989.

Learners already in receipt of EMA

Young people who are already in receipt of EMA, or who are assessed as eligible and receive a Notice of Entitlement, will continue to receive it until the end of this academic year (2010/11), if they fulfil the terms of their EMA Agreement. 

Young people can take their Notice of Entitlement into their Learning Provider at any point during the 2010/11 academic year. However, we would advise them to take this document in as soon as possible to enable them to start receiving payments from the scheme.

Providers should continue to administer the scheme as normal for those young people receiving EMA for the remainder of this academic year. 

New bursary scheme announced for 16-19 year olds

The Government announced on Monday 28 March a new £180 million bursary scheme to help the most vulnerable 16-19 year olds to continue in full-time education. 

The scheme is made up of two parts - a guaranteed payment to a small group of the most vulnerable and a discretionary fund for schools and colleges to distribute.

There will also be transitional arrangements to help those who are part-way through their studies and are currently receiving EMA. The transitional arrangements consist of two parts:

• First, all students who first successfully applied for EMA in 2009/10 will continue to receive payments at the same level until the end of the 2011/12 academic year.
• Second, young people now in their first year of post-16 study who were in receipt of the maximum weekly EMA payment of £30 will be eligible for £20 for each week they are in education or training until the end of the 2011/12 academic year.

Further information is available on the 16-19 Bursary Fund section of the YPLA website.