Education Maintenance Allowance
The EMA site is designed to provide our partners with the information you need to promote and administer EMA.
EMA is a weekly allowance of £10, £20 or £30 paid to learners from low income backgrounds to help them stay on in learning. It aims to broaden participation and improve retention among 16-18 year olds and is an important tool in helping to re-engage young people who are NEET or at risk of becoming NEET.
If you have any questions the site doesn't answer please call our partner helpline on 0845 600 7979.
Latest News
This section of the sites aims to keep you up to date with the Learner Support Service. We are updating it regularly, so please keep visiting.
July Bonus 2010
All decisions for the July bonus need to be confirmed on laps by 20:00 on Friday 27 August. The earliest date a July bonus decision can be made is the 3 May 2010.
Ordering of 2010/11 application packs
Application packs for the 2009/10 academic year are no longer available to order from Prolog. Learning providers still requiring these packs should contact the Learner Support Helpline on 0800 121 8989 .
Application packs for the 2010/11 acadamic year can now be pre-ordered from Prolog by calling 0845 60 222 60 and quoting the reference number: YPLA-P-10001. Please be aware when ordering application packs that, due to the EMA Guarantee, the number of learners requiring an application form should be significantly lower than in previous years.
EMA application process for 2010/11 and the EMA Guarantee
Learners with an EMA Guarantee who were paid EMA during the 2008/09 academic year and/or 2009/10 EMA year do not need to reapply. The EMA Guarantee means that they will be eligible for support at the same level until the end of the academic year in which they turn 19. Some learners though may choose to reapply because their household income has gone down.
Changes to the special EMA arrangements for learners on entry to employment (e2e)
e2e is moving into Foundation Learning (FL) for 2010/2011 and the existing special arrangements that apply to e2e learners for EMA (ie that they receive £30 EMA per week regardless of household income) will cease.
For the 2010/11 Academic Year, all applicants for EMA will be subject to an income assessment, taking account of the household income for the 2009-2010 tax year.
For more information about this policy change please, click here
Learner Support toolkit
Please click here for the Learner Support toolkit, which aims to give an introduction to the Learner Support programme and how it provides financial support for learners aged 16+.
