Hello, thanks for reading/rating my reviews, I appreciate it!
I am a 33 year old female who li...
Hello, thanks for reading/rating my reviews, I appreciate it!
I am a 33 year old female who lives in the North East, I also write on Dooyoo, under the username Siamese :-)
If a young person is 16, 17 or 18 and has left, or is about to leave, compulsory education, then they may be able to claim EMA to carry on learning. This could be up to £30 a week (can be £10, £20 or £30 a week depending on circumstances).
EMA could help with the cost of books, travel, equipment or anything useful to continue learning. EMA is not paid to parents or schools but directly into the young person's bank account. Attendance is taken into account, and students are expected to attend regularly and work hard on their course.
This money does not affect any benefits that parents receive and is also not affected by any part time work that the young person may have. In some cases (usually agreed with the college or school) young people may also be able to receive bonuses.
There are also critera that young people have to fit in order to be eligible, these include the below (taken from the website, more details available there);You need to be enrolled on a course in England which is one of the following:
a full-time further education course at a college or school
an LSC-funded Diploma (where available) or a course that leads to an Apprenticeship
an LSC-funded Entry to Employment (e2e) course (if you're on an e2e course, you'll get the maximum £30 weekly EMA payment regardless of your household income)
Your household income;To qualify for EMA in the academic year starting September 2009, your annual household income must be below £30,810 (for tax year 2008-09). Your household income (for financial year 2008-09)
How much EMA you get
up to £20,817 per year £30 per week £20,818 - £25,521 per year £20 a week £25,522 - £30,810 per year £10 a week more than £30,810 per year no entitlement to EMA
In short, EMA can be a great way to help enable young people to remain in education. Having said that, it is not without its problems. This year there were big delays with the payouts which affected a lot of students. And because the payments are based upon last year's household income, it can mean that if parents are no longer employed, or earning below the threshold, that the young person will miss out. Absence from college can also mean that payments are withheld.
Do I recommend EMA? Yes I do, it can be a fantastic way of helping students afford to remain in education, it is just a shame that the system is inflexible (based on last year's income) which can mean that some people miss out. Hopefully, the problems with late payments have also been resolved, and this issue will not be allowed to recur again. If you have a teenager who may be eligible, then I would definitely suggest that they contact EMA for further information.
I am giving this 4 stars, due to the issues mentioned above.
This review also appears on Dooyoo.
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Advantages: Nokia phones are easy to use because of the small, convienint size of them. Disadvantages: Servicing of the phones is very slow and they are fairly pricey.
Nov 7th, 2009
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