Falkirk Council

EMA England, Northern Ireland or Wales is unconnected to Falkirk Council.

If you study in England, Northern Ireland or Wales please visit the website relevant to your area.

Contact details, documents and information available on this page are intended for young people in the Falkirk area.
 

 EMA application request form|

Latest News

The session for 12-13 EMA is closed.

Information on this page has now been updated for the new 13-14 EMA session. Application forms for the new session should be available from June. Please check our blog| for updates.

Falkirk EMA publicise our news and updates through Glow, the world's first national intranet for education using our Falkirk EMA blog|. The blog is free to view by anyone online and is regularly updated with important news items, from session deadline reminders to payment dates and Scottish Government announcements.

A reminder also that target payment dates and general information for the full EMA session can also be found in the handbooks, issued to all successful applicants at time of award. A copy of the school pupil handbook (PDF, 938KB)| can be viewed or downloaded from this page.

Select the image below to visit Falkirk's EMA Glow Blog|

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General Information

Education Maintenance Allowance provides financial support for 16 to 19 year olds from low-income families who are attending non-advanced full-time education in school, college, community or voluntary provision, or those who are home educated.

The programme was introduced across Scotland in academic year 2004-05 and underwent revisions from 2009-10 to ensure that EMA was targeted at those young people who need it most.

The aim is to increase participation and retention in post-compulsory education for this group.

What is an EMA?

An EMA is a weekly allowance of £30 payable to eligible young people who have achieved 100% attendance per week. It is payable in arrears, generally on a 2 weekly basis.

Do you qualify for an EMA?

• Were you born between 1 March 1994 and 28 February 1998?
• Are you willing to participate in an approved learning choices agreement?
• Do you attend a Falkirk school or do you reside in the Falkirk area and are you undertaking a programme of learning in a community or voluntary setting?
• Was your 2012-13 household income:
  • £20,351 per annum or less (for families with a single dependent child) or
  • £22,403 per annum or less (families with more than one dependent child)?

Students attending college full time may also be eligible for EMA but should contact the college direct for further information or to obtain an application form.

How to Apply for an EMA

EMA and other student finance in England, Northern Ireland or Wales is unconnected to Falkirk Council.

For Learning Centres in England, Northern Ireland or Wales, please refer to the website relevant to your area.

If you attend a school outside the Falkirk Council area, please do not submit applications or other correspondence to Falkirk Council as we will be unable to help with your enquiry. Please contact your school or the Local Authority for that area.

When applications are available, applications can be picked one up from the following points:

• most Council One Stop Shops
• any Falkirk Council Secondary School (school pupils only)
• by contacting us
• by submitting an online request form

An Employer and Pension Certificate can be downloaded from this page and can be used if your parent/carer does not have other proof of income.

Completed applications can be posted to Education Services (EMA) using the address given in the Contact Us panel.

Please note that we are unable to assess hand-delivered applications while you wait. All applications are dealt with in date order and pupils contacted in writing as quickly as possible thereafter (usually within 5 working days but subject to volume of work).

Need more information?

When your application is approved you'll receive a Notice of Entitlement and EMA Handbook. The handbook includes payment dates for the year and what to do if you're absent from school or your learning programme due to illness.

Please read it carefully and keep for future reference.

We're happy to help applicants or parent/carers/advisors with any aspect of EMA, including completion of the application form or general absence procedures. Unfortunately, we do not always have access to facilities where we can speak to you confidentially and for this reason, personal visits are discouraged. However, most general queries can usually be quickly answered by phone or found within the information on this page.

Please note that for Data Protection reasons, EMA section, schools and learning centres may only be able to discuss certain matters with the EMA young person and not their parent/carer/advisor. These include individual award amounts, confirmation of payment or reasons for withheld payment.

This information is given as a general guide and should not be regarded as a statement of statutory position or Council policy.

Further information may be available from EMA Scotland| or by contacting us. We regularly review and update this page.

If there's any other EMA information or guidance you'd like to see here, please let us know.