Educational Maintenance Allowance
Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is an income-assessed weekly allowance of up to £30 to help with the cost of further education. EMA is a scheme providing young people who wish to continue in education after school leaving age with an incentive to earn awards through good attendance and achieving agreed objectives.
EMA is paid fortnightly directly into the young person’s bank account. The young person can spend the EMA on whatever they want. It can, for example, help to cover day-to-day course related costs such as travel, books and equipment. Receipt of an EMA will not affect the receipt of any benefits which are currently paid to your household.
The information you need to submit as evidence of income will vary depending on your circumstances. The household income assessment is applied to the home in which the young person normally lives. The income of the following adults in the home will be included in the assessment:
- parents
- guardians
- step-parents
- parent partners
- mother's partner or father's partner
The income of the following adults in the home will not be included in the assessment
- adult br /others and sisters
- parents, step-parents or guardians who do not normally live in the same household as the student (even if they make maintenance payments)
What evidence do you need to send in for EMA?
As the young person's parents or guardians, you must provide evidence of your household income for the prior tax year. If they live independently your child must provide this evidence. If you have already given this information to HM Revenue and Customs, you can submit an original copy of your finalised Tax Credit Award Notification (TCAN) as evidence.
Please note: you can use any version of the TCAN apart from version R as evidence. We cannot accept photocopies.
For academic year 2009/2010, we require your TCAN from tax year 2008/2009.
If you do not have a TCAN, or you only have version R, you may provide alternative evidence of household income for the tax year 2008/2009, such as:
- salaries or wages (p60)
- income or profits from self employment or business as it appears on the SA302 form
- income from taxable benefits
- other income, such as interest on savings and investments
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